COMMUNICATIONS: Reports Of A “Slightly Higher” Bid For Telecom Italia’s Sparkle
Ba3[P]/BB/BB
BBG news noting the below La Repubblica article (paywalled) indicating that the Italian treasury is readying a new “slightly higher” big for Telecom Italia SpA’s submarine cables unit Sparkle along with Asterion Industrial Partners.
• Prior EUR 750mn offer from Italy for Sparkle in which Telecom Italia considered keeping minority stake was rejected earlier in the year. BBG news reported on a new EUR 800mn offer back in March.
• A sale was noted as an incremental positive by rating agencies during the summer round of upgrades.
• H1 pre-forma net debt was EUR 8.1bn with leverage of 2.2x against a target of <2x by end-2024. EUR 800mn equates to ~0.2x turns without adjusting the denominator.
• https://www.repubblica.it/economia/2024/09/22/news/mef_asterion_sparkle_tim_cavi_sottomarini-423514099/