Although Italian telephone exchange builder Italtel SpA turned to AT&T Co as its partner – AT&T paid $130m last year for a 20% stake – because Fiat SpA pulled out of the talks to merge its Telettra SpA subsidiary with Italtel in a huff, a new attempt is being made to put the Italian switchmaker and transmission equipment builder together, the Financial Times reports. The conditions that led Fiat to take its ball away – essentially a sudden fear that the unilaterally designated head of the proposed Telit SpA combined company was too close to the Italian Socialist Party and that the company would therefore suffer from political interference – no longer obtains. AT&T declined to comment on what its attitude would be, but anything that made Italtel stronger would tend to enhance the value of its holding in the firm.
