By Elvira Pollina

MILAN (Reuters). -Shares in Telecom Italia (MI.) (TIM), hit new lows Monday, as Italy’s top phone operator met investors to convince them about his plans to revive the old phone monopoly.

The TIM Roadshow is scheduled ahead of a decision on a proposal for a takeover by U.S. fund KKR worth 10.8 billion euros ($11.7billion) in the near future.

According to two people familiar with the matter, a board meeting may be scheduled to discuss the KKR proposal.

TIM’s consultants have requested clarification from the U.S. Fund to determine whether terms of the November offer are still in effect, according to sources.

TIM shares suffered another rough day Monday, losing around 30% of their value during the second session of last week. After touching an all-time low of 0.22 euro, the shares fell 5.5% to 0.236 euros.

Today’s volume was six times the 30 day average. Nearly 5% of voting stock changed hands.

These shares are still far below the 0.505 Euro level where the KKR approach to KKR was proposed.

Pietro Labriola is supported by Vivendi, TIM’s largest investor (OTC:), who criticized KKR’s proposal for being too low. His plan centers around structurally separating TIM’s fixed-network and retail businesses.

Labriola stated last week that KKR had a similar plan for TIM, but that he believed that doing it internally would generate greater value for all investors including minor shareholders.

A third source claimed that TIM’s directors are hesitant about abandoning KKR’s proposal, even if further discussions with the fund take place.

Sources said Labriola had been meeting with Milan investors face-to-face and would also be giving a series of briefings via teleconference between now and Wednesday.

VIDEO MESSAGE

Sources claimed that Labriola was in contact with representatives from BlackRock (NYSE : ), which is the biggest asset manager worldwide and a key shareholder of TIM. 41.3 percent of the company is held by foreign institutional investors.

Labriola is a former TIM executive and was TIM’s fifth chief executive in six years. He sent a message via video to 42,500 of his domestic employees to reassure them about the company’s future.

Labriola urged them all to relax and focus on customers. TIM is Italy’s leading telecom operator.

In the video, he stated that many people worry; I feel your concern. However, it is important to distinguish between healthy concerns and panic.

This message was not well received by unions.

Due to stiff competition on its domestic core market and regulatory restrictions, TIM, a debt-laden company, reported a record loss of 8.7 billion euros for 2021. It also stated that it expects a decrease in core profits in the 2022 fiscal year, which will be lower than its current group structure.

($1 = 0.9208 euro)