A source told Reuters that Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris and companies America Movil and AT&T had already approached the core investors in Telecom Italia. The core investors were planning to exit their holdings in the debt-laden Milan-based telecommunications operator. The source, however, said the three players had not yet formally expressed their intention to buy the shares.

Chairman Franco Bernabe has been looking for a new investor before Telecom Italia's scheduled board meeting on September 19. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Telecom Italia had not yet found a partner to infuse new capital into the company. Telecom Italia is currently faced with a debt of over EUR 28 billion. The possibility of a debt downgrade by a rating firm had also put more pressure on Bernabe to find a new investor. Bloomberg earlier reported that a non-investment grade rating would triple the market value of Telecom Italia's debt.

Telco holds a 22.4% stake in Telecom Italia. Major stakeholders of Telco included Mediobanca and Intesa Sanpaolo, Generali and Telefonica.