(Reuters) – Italy’s biggest telecoms company Telecom Italia (TIM) said on Friday it received two new offers for its landline grid, as companies bid to resolve the impasse over the asset’s sale process.
U.S. fund KKR and separately a rival consortium comprising state lender CDP and Australian fund Macquarie submitted bids for Telecom Italia’s network, according to a statement.
Debt-crippled TIM is seeking improved offers for its most valuable asset after having assessed as not yet adequate the proposals received in May.
“TIM announces that, as part of the competitive bidding process relating to Netco, two new non-binding offers have been received today,” the company said in a statement, without giving any details if the new bids were sweetened.
The so-called NetCo comprises TIM’s domestic fixed access network and international submarine cable unit Sparkle.
Telecom Italia’s board is due to meet to review the proposals on June 19 and June 22, the company said.
Treasury-owned CDP is the second-largest investor in TIM with a 10% stake after France’s Vivendi.
The state lender and Macquarie are also co-investors in TIM’s smaller rival Open Fiber.
The sale of Telecom Italia’s infrastructure and its submarine cable unit Sparkle is a focal point of CEO Pietro Labriola’s plan to slash the former phone monopoly 26 billion euro ($27.94 billion) debt pile and turnaround the battered telecoms group.
($1 = 0.9307 euros)
(Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Marguerita Choy)