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Olivetti sticks to Italia bid
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May 12, 1999: 8:18 a.m. ET
Company denies talk it will sweeten its $62B offer, raise cash proportion
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Olivetti denied Wednesday it was planning to sweeten the terms of its $62 billion offer for Telecom Italia by increasing the cash proportion of its bid.
"Olivetti denies there is any intention to modify the offer or even change its structure," an Olivetti spokesman told Reuters.
Rumors had circulated on the Milan bourse Wednesday that Olivetti might rework the terms of the deal to get more investors to back its offer over the proposed merger of Telecom Italia with Deutsche Telekom. Thus far, less than 1 percent of Italia shareholders have tendered their shares to Olivetti.
The former typewriter maker's offer is valued at 11.5 euros per share, but Italia stock has consistently traded well below that level, indicating that investors are not confident it will succeed.
Italia shares rose almost 2 percent to 9.91 euros in Milan Wednesday, supported by the Olivetti rumors, and talk that the terms of the merger with Deutsche Telekom might be altered. Olivetti stock edged down slightly to 3.19 euros, while in Frankfurt Deutsche Telekom (FDTE) stock rose almost 1 percent to 35.60 euros.
-- from staff and wire reports
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