European shares rise on telecoms M&A; Telecom Italia soars 20%

European shares rose on Monday, boosted by telecom stocks as Telecom Italia (MI:TLIT)’s shares shot up 20% after a $12 billion bid from U.S. fund KKR to take Italy’s largest phone group private.

The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.3% by 0828 GMT, reversing Friday’s declines after Austria announced fresh COVID-19 lockdowns, with neighbouring Germany warning it may follow suit.

Telecom stocks rose 0.9% on a boost from Telecom Italia’s shares, which jumped 21.3% to their highest level since June.

Norway’s Telenor climbed 1.9% after agreeing to merge its telecom unit with Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Group in a deal valued at about $8.61 billion.

The European benchmark logged its first weekly drop in seven weeks on Friday on concerns over the impact of possible COVID-19 lockdowns on the back of a recent surge in infections, which hit cyclical sectors such as automakers and banks.

Renault SA (PA:RENA) added 0.4% after signing a supply deal for the second time with lithium developer Vulcan Energy Resources.

Meanwhile, wind turbine maker Vestas skidded 1.4% after saying it was hit by a cyber attack that affected its IT systems and compromised data at the Danish firm.