(Bloomberg) -- Italy has made a new offer for Telecom Italia SpA’s Sparkle submarine cable unit, in a bid that values it at €700 million ($774 million), according to a statement Wednesday.
The country’s Finance Ministry made the bid along with Retelit SpA, which is controlled by Spanish investment firm Asterion Industrial Partners. The offer will be valid until Oct. 15.
The phone carrier’s board will work with advisers to evaluate the proposal after a series of internal procedures. The company rejected an initial offer earlier this year.
Bloomberg in March reported that Italy was considering teaming up with Asterion for a possible joint bid on Sparkle.
Rome’s move to buy the cable unit meshes with the approach of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, which has sought to assert control over assets it deems to be of strategic value.
Sparkle operates over 600,000 kilometers of cables connecting countries including Israel and the US. Subsea cables are one of the core pieces of fiber infrastructure facilitating global data flow, including sensitive information.
After completing the sale of Telecom Italia’s fixed-line network to KKR & Co. Inc. for as much as €22 billion, Chief Executive Officer Pietro Labriola is now looking for ways to play an active role in the consolidation of Italy’s fragmented telecoms market.
Swisscom AG earlier this year struck a deal to buy Vodafone Group PLC’s Italian unit for €8 billion and combine it with its own Fastweb SpA business.
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