TIM Gets €700 Million Sparkle Offer

Telecom Italia received a binding offer from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and infrastructure company Retelit to buy the operator’s wholesale unit Sparkle. The offer values the business at €700 million and is valid until 27 January. It is subject to the completion of a financing process and other standard conditions.

In a brief statement, TIM noted it would start the relevant evaluation and decision-making process as soon as possible. Exclusive negotiations over the potential sale of Sparkle to the parties have been ongoing since the operator received a non-binding offer from the suitors in October. A deadline for a binding offer was set as the end of November.

At the end of last month, TIM extended its deadline for a firm Sparkle offer to 16 December. This was subsequently pushed by another two days to give the parties more time to complete the necessary activities and offer a firm bid.