(Bloomberg) -- Telecom Italia SpA’s blockbuster network sale to the US private equity firm KKR & Co. is fully on track and will contribute to what the former Italian phone monopoly’s head says is €5 billion ($5.4 billion) in upside at the company. 

“I’m 100% positive the KKR deal will go ahead and we don’t foresee delays,” Chief Executive Officer Pietro Labriola said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. That deal will give his company a new strategic opportunity and resolve its debt issues, he said.

Labriola said a court case his company recently won and the sale of other assets, including the phone carrier’s submarine cable Telecom Italia Sparkle, will also contribute to the potential windfall. He dismissed calls by some investors to sell Telecom Italia’s Brazil unit, which he called a “cash cow.”

The Rome-based company has been struggling for years to cut debt and adapt to an increasingly competitive market, and its shares slumped in March with markets fearing a higher-than-expected debt forecast for the end of 2024. Last year it announced a plan to sell its landline network for about €19 billion to KKR in what would be one of Europe’s largest infrastructure deals. 

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The sale of the grid was orchestrated by the Italian government and by Labriola and cleared in January, in a bid to slash the carrier’s debt pile.

Labriola has been openly challenged by some minority holders, including Merlyn Partners and activist investor Bluebell Capital Partners. Last month, the funds proposed an alternative slate of candidates for the phone carrier’s board. However, leading proxy advisers recommended Telecom Italia investors vote in favor of renewing the current board at the upcoming meeting on April 23.

Italy’s Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said earlier this week that the government-backed plan for Telecom Italia is the “only realistic one.”

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