Telecom Italy has submitted a non-binding offer for the residual assets of BT in Italy (formerly British Telecom), seeking to raise about €100 million ($110 million) from the seller to buy the assets. It reports Reuters based on what was learned from sources familiar with the situation. Binding offers are expected by the end of this month, he added. The Telecom Italia title at Piazza Affari it gains 0,22% to 0,23 euros.
BT has scaled back its operations in Italy after its domestic subsidiary was hit by a forgery scandal on the balance sheet which forced the British telecoms group to take a £530 million ($690 million) charge on its accounts in 2017.
BT’s Italian operations include four data centers and a backbone, and for the group led by Pietro Labriola, they could reinforce the expansion of Tim Enterprise, which provides connectivity, cloud and cybersecurity services to large corporate clients and public administrations. BT’s Italian division currently has a staff of around 370 full-time employees and long-term contracts with large corporate clients, which generated around €300 million in revenue last year.
BT's divisions have also attracted preliminary interest from a number of other bidders, including Italian fibre operator Retelit and Milan-based private equity firm Nextalia, the sources added. BT had already given up some parts of the Italian business to TIM, and other parts last year to Retelit.
