Telecom Italia (TI) is thought to have sent an expression of interest (EoI) to infrastructure investment fund F2i over the acquisition of its stake in Italian fibre network operator Metroweb. A report from Reuters, which cites ‘two sources close to the matter’, says that TI has not yet indicated what price it would be prepared to pay for the stake. The Italian group’s rival Vodafone Italy has previously said it could be interested in acquiring Metroweb should it be put up for sale.
Metroweb – valued at around EUR400 million (USD501 million) – is 87.7%-owned by Metroweb Italia, which is itself owned by F2i (53.8%) and state-backed holding company Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) via its FSI fund (46.2%). Although Metroweb’s fibre infrastructure was initially concentrated in its home city of Milan, it has since expanded to Genoa, Turin and Bologna, with connections to the main urban centres in northern Italy. It eventually plans to roll out metro networks in Italy’s 30 largest cities, though it has yet to give a time-scale for the project.