Telecom Italia (TIM) has decided to extend the 15 January deadline given to companies bidding for the majority stake it has put up for sale in broadcasting company Persidera, according to unnamed sources cited by Reuters. The aim is to give potential bidders more time to prepare offers, with one source indicating there has been a postponement of two to three weeks to meet requests from funds. Another source said TIM may even decide to shelve the process for the time being if few bidders emerge.
Italian infrastructure fund F2i is expected to make a bid, with one source suggesting that Mediaset’s EI Towers and Rai’s towers subsidiary RaiWay would not be making offers for antitrust reasons but could set up alliances with F2i or other funds at a later date to manage the assets. US media company Discovery Communications is still considering a bid for the controlling stake but its interest appears to be waning, added the sources.
TIM currently has a 70 percent stake in Persidera, the former Telecom Italia Media Broadcasting company, with the remainder held by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso. The sale was required by the European Commission, which gave its conditional approval to Vivendi’s plan to gain control of TIM after the French company pledged to sell the Italian operator’s stake in Persidera.