Telecom Italia (TIM), the Italian telecom operator headquartered in Rome, announced that it received two non-binding offers for Netco, its fixed network operating unit. The offers resulted from a competitive bidding process that TIM had established in July, Inside Towers reported.
One bid came from the consortium of CdP Equity SpA and Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (Europe) Limited, which acts on behalf of funds managed or advised by Melbourne, Australia-based Macquarie Group. The other bid was from New York private equity firm, KKR.
The two offers will be evaluated by TIM’s Board of Directors in early May, following a preliminary review by its Related Parties Committee. Both groups submitted an initial bid in March, but TIM demurred, indicating the bids were below NetCo’s asset valuation.
TIM’s plan is to break up its classical vertically integrated telco model into two parts: NetCo, and ServiceCo. The idea is that separate business units will become more competitive and more profitable in their respective operations. At year-end 2022, TIM reported that NetCo carried about $12 billion in debt that it wants to cut in half.
NetCo encompasses the fixed wireline network, both transport and access (branded, FiberCop) segments, as well as domestic and international wholesale businesses including submarine cable unit, Sparkle. NetCo is building out the access network with fiber-to-the-home deployments.
ServiceCo comprises three operating groups: TIM Enterprise, TIM Consumer and TIM Brasil.
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