According to two people with knowledge of the situation, Telecom Italia (TIM) decided on Friday to give Italian state lender CDP and its partners until November 30 to submit a non-binding offer for the former monopoly’s landline system.
The largest Italian telecoms company, TIM, and CDP will continue their non-exclusive negotiations, the persons said.
TIM’s network assets were up for sale, and CDP, fiber optic company Open Fiber, and infrastructure investor Macquarie had asked for more time to negotiate a transaction. The original deadline for a final agreement expired at the end of October.
According to sources with knowledge of the situation, TIM’s largest shareholder Vivendi (VIV.PA) had some concerns about continuing exclusive negotiations with CDP on the network sale.
The proposed multibillion-euro bid is a component of a long-standing strategy to integrate TIM’s fixed network assets with those of smaller competitor Open Fiber to form a single broadband operator under CDP’s control.
Open Fiber is managed by CDP, which is owned by the Treasury and has a 10% share in TIM.
Another important component of TIM CEO Pietro Labriola’s effort to revive the indebted former phone monopoly is the grid sale.
The first deadline for a non-binding proposal has been repeatedly postponed, and last month’s snap election made it even more difficult.
Divergences in values have also been a sticking point in negotiations. According to insiders, Vivendi is asking for 31 billion euros ($30.89 billion) to support a purchase, which is at least 10 billion more than CDP is valuing it at.
According to analysts, removing the exclusivity granted to CDP and its partners could invite competition and raise the asking price.
The formation of a unified network operator limited to wholesale business is supported by the Brothers of Italy party, which leads the new coalition government in Italy.
New Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni committed to ensuring that national strategic networks were state-owned while allowing telecom companies to compete on services in her opening address to Parliament.
To protect businesses deemed to be of strategic importance from outside interest, Rome has unique anti-takeover powers. These might be used to block any agreement for TIM’s network.
 decided on Friday to give Italian state lender CDP.){kind=link}