MILAN (Reuters) – U.S. fund KKR has asked Telecom Italia (TIM) to push back a Sept. 30 deadline to submit a multi-billion euro binding offer for the phone group’s landline network until Oct.15, TIM said on Friday.
TIM’s board will review the request at a meeting on Sept. 27, the company said in a statement.
KKR last month secured the backing of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, which authorised the Treasury to join a bid for the country’s main piece of telecoms infrastructure, an asset deemed of strategic national interest.
The U.S. fund’s preliminary bid valued the business — dubbed NetCo — at around 23 billion euros ($24.5 billion)including debt and taking into account a number of variables.
($1 = 0.9404 euros)
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina, editing by Alvise Armellini)
