Squire Patton Boggs has acted for Rai Way, one of Italy’s leading operators of television and radio broadcasting infrastructure and a leading provider of tower hosting services, and for its parent, Italy’s state broadcaster Rai - Radiotelevisione italiana, on the successful initial public offering in Italy of Rai Way.

Rai – Radiotelevisione italiana (in turn owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Italy) sold a total of 95 million shares of its subsidiary Rai Way (representing a stake of 35% in the total share capital), in a public offering in Italy and an international institutional offering pursuant to Rule 144A and Regulation S, raising €280 million, and representing a total capitalization for the company of €802 million.

The shares of Rai Way are listed on Italy’s main market, the MTA, and trading commenced on November 19.

The listing is the first to take place on the MTA since the summer and represents one of the largest privatizations in Europe in 2014.

Squire Patton Boggs acted as US and UK counsel to the issuer, Rai Way, and the selling shareholder, Rai – Radiotelevisione italiana, in connection with the international institutional offering pursuant to Rule 144A and Regulation S, which accounted for the placing of approximately 90% of the total shares in the offering.

The Squire Patton Boggs team advising Rai Way and Rai – Radiotelevisione italiana was led by Corporate partner Massimo Galli (London), with the assistance of Mitch Thompson, James Gray, Matteo Daste, Anthony Cipiti, David Zagore, Alexios Hadji and Diana Milanesi (USA) and Will Buchanan (London), working alongside Italian counsel, Bonelli Erede Pappalardo, who advised on the Italian public listing and retail offer.

Massimo Galli commented, “Against the backdrop of challenging market conditions when a number of companies have been unable to pursue their listings, we are delighted to be associated with one of the largest cross-border IPOs this year, and to have been able to deliver this successfully for the client. On a broader note, the transaction is one of 16 IPOs with which the firm has been involved so far this year and underscores Squire Patton Boggs’ ability to handle large cross-border securities offerings around the world and listings on all of the major international capital markets.”