MILAN (Reuters) – A consortium led by the Italian Treasury has reached an agreement to buy Telecom Italia (TIM) submarine cable business Sparkle, in a deal valuing the unit at 700 million euros ($793.80 million) including debt, TIM and the government said on Monday.
Sparkle is deemed of strategic importance by Italian authorities, given its 600,000 kilometres of cable network, which transmits information between countries in Europe, the Mediterranean region and the Americas.
The Treasury jointly bid with Retelit, a fibre optic operator, which is controlled by Spanish fund Asterion.
The sale of Sparkle is part of a round of asset disposals aimed at reviving the former phone monopoly which has struggled with fierce price competition in its home market.
The deal, which is expected to be finalised by the end of this year, includes a potential price adjustment in case Sparkle fails to meet some of its core profit targets this year, TIM and the government said in separate statement.
($1 = 0.8818 euros)
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
