Telecom Italia board weighs Hutchison plan

By Stefano Rebaudo and Lisa Jucca MILAN (Reuters) - Telecom Italia's board met on Thursday to discuss a potential tie-up with Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa , which sources say wants nearly 30 percent of the Italian firm. Telecom chairman Franco Bernabe, under pressure to improve margins at the debt-laden phone company, hopes for initial backing for the plan; sources close to the talks say it would see Hutchison buy a 12-percent stake now held by three Italian investors and merge its Italian mobile phone unit 3 Italia with Telecom in exchange for about a further 18 percent in the group. ...

via Tech News Headlines - Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/telecom-italia-board-weighs-hutchison-plan-092632449--sector.html