Telecom Italia makes offer for controlling stake in Metroweb
Telecom Italia (TI) has made an offer for a controlling stake in Metroweb, the fibre optic network for the city of Milan, Italian-language daily Milano Finanza reported.
The unsourced article said the offer is for the 53% stake in Metroweb held by F2i, the Italian infrastructure fund. UK mobile phone operator Vodafone has also made a bid, the item added.
F2i gave Metroweb an enterprise value of EUR 450m but the unique nature of the target is likely to make it more valuable.
The report added that if TI takes over Metroweb, it could face calls by the antitrust regulator AGCM to sell off fibre optics in cities such as Milan, Genoa and Florence in order to preserve competition. The AGCM has recently signalled that it would not support takeovers in a strategic sector such as fibre optic communications if they reduced competition, the article noted.
Source Milano Finanza daily edition