MILAN (Reuters) - Telecom Italia (BIT:TLIT) (TIM) directors are expected to seek to improve an offer of up to 750 million euros from the Italian Treasury for the the telecom's firm submarine cable unit Sparkle, which is deemed as too low, a source close to the matter told Reuters.
According to the source, directors will likely look to negotiate better financial terms, with TIM remaining a minority investor of the unit for a certain period, an option envisaged in the Treasury's proposal.
Earlier this month, the Treasury submitted a buyout bid for Sparkle, whose network extends over 600,000 km and transmits information between countries in Europe, the Mediterranean and the Americas.
The move meshes with the Italian government's efforts to secure control of an asset deemed as strategic.
TIM said it would review the offer at a board meeting on Wednesday. The company has pegged a valuation of nearly 1 billion euros for the unit, sources have previously said.
The sale of Sparkle is part of TIM CEO Pietro Labriola's plan to part ways with the former phone monopoly's fixed network assets to cut its debt pile.
In November, TIM agreed to sell its domestic fixed-line network to KKR in a deal worth up to 22 billion euros, and part of an agreement with the Treasury to take over the infrastructure.