Telecom Italia chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera is to unveil a drastic shortening of the chain of companies that control the former state telephone monopoly. The Financial Times reported that Tronchetti Provera will seek to eliminate via mergers two of the six holding companies that sit atop the phone group. He will have to balance the demands of investors in at least five publicly traded companies in the chain - Telecom Italia, Olivetti, Pirelli, Pirelli & C, and Camfin - that, together with TIM and subsidiary Seat Pagine Gialle, a directories publisher, have a market value of EUR 91 billion. The paper said that the cairman aims at improving cashflow and help reduce net debt of EUR 38.5 billion carried by the chain that has forced high dividend pay-outs from Telecom Italia and TIM.
