Italian utility giant Enel has officially completed the acquisition of Metroweb, the Milan-based broadband provider it agreed to buy in July, for around EUR 714 million. Enel said Metroweb will be integrated with its wholesale broadband subsidiary, which has changed its name from Enel Open Fiber (EOF) to Open Fiber (OF). Under the terms of the binding agreement for the acquisition of Metroweb signed in October, the broadband operator will be merged with OF but Enel will hold a 50 percent stake in the entity with state lender CDPE (Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Equity).
The company added that talks with Italian infrastructure fund F2i to exercise an option to buy back a stake in Open Fiber will continue. However, Enel and CDPE will continue to exercise joint control of the wholesale broadband unit even if F2i decides to acquire a stake of up to 30 percent.
Earlier this year, Open Fiber announced the details of a EUR 3.7 billion plan to build fibre-optic networks in 250 major Italian cities, having already started the rollout in Perugia, Cagliari, Venice, Padua, Bari, Catania and Genoa, with Naples, Palermo and Florence to follow shortly.
