MILAN (Reuters) -Telecom Italia (TIM) decided on Friday to give Italian state lender CDP and its partners until Nov. 30 to submit a non-binding offer for the former monopoly’s landline grid, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Talks between TIM, Italy’s biggest telecoms group, and CDP will continue on a non-exclusive basis, the people added.
CDP, fiber optic firm Open Fiber and infrastructure fund Macquarie had requested more time to negotiate a deal to buy TIM’s network assets, seeking to extend an initial deadline that ran out at the end of October for a binding agreement.
Sources familiar with the matter had told Reuters that TIM’s top investor Vivendi had some reservations about continuing exclusive talks with CDP on the network sale.
The potential multi-billion euro bid is part of a long-held plan to combine TIM’s fixed network assets with those of smaller rivals Open Fiber to create a unified broadband operator under CDP’s control.
Treasury-owned CDP, which holds a 10% stake in TIM, controls Open Fiber.
The grid sale is also a key plank of TIM CEO Pietro Labriola’s strategy to turn around the debt-laden former phone monopoly.
The initial timeline for a non-binding bid has been