By Stuart Thomson

Telecom Italia (TIM) said it has received a non-binding offer from a consortium formed by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CdP Equity) and Macquarie Infrastructure for the purchase of 100 per cent of the company to be set up for the management and infrastructure of TIM’s fixed network.

The bid includes the assets and activities of last-mile infrastructure outfit FiberCop, as well as TIM’s stake in Sparkle. CdP is Italy’s state-backed lender.

The offer, which expires at the end of this month, will be considered by the TIM board, possibly at a meeting on March 15.

The CdP/Macquarid bid is a rival to an existing offer from private equity outfit KKR.

According to Italian press, the new offer is believed to be similar in size to the KKR bid.

KKR initially approached TIM with its own offer for the network infrastructure unit at the start of February. KKR took a stake in FiberCop three years ago and has long been interested in investing further.

CdP, which has stakes in both TIM and alternative infrastructure outfit Open Fiber, which the Italian state has wished to unite with TIM’s infrastructure to create a single fibre network for Italy, had been widely expected to take part in a rival move with Macquarie.

The sale of the infrastructure arm of the business has been resisted by Vivendi, which remains a key shareholder in TIM and which believes the asset to be undervalued.