Blackstone Group, the US private equity firm that this year raised a record fund and last week agreed the world's biggest buyout, is considering acquiring a stake in Telecom Italia, which has a €44bn ($56.4bn) market value.

Blackstone president Tony James told delegates at a conference in Rome yesterday that the private equity firm, which agreed a $36bn (€28bn) buyout of US office building operator Equity Office on Monday, is interested in taking stakes in both Telecom Italia and its mobile arm.