Australian infrastructure fund Macquarie has tabled an offer to acquire Enel’s 50 percent stake in Italian wholesale-only operator Open Fiber. In a statement, utility giant Enel confirmed that its board last week received a non-binding bid from Macquarie Infrastructure Real Asset for “the acquisition of the whole or part of the stake”. Italian daily La Repubblica reported that the offer was “very high” and that Macquarie could soon begin a due diligence process to make the bid binding.
Enel controls Open Fiber with state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) and has been discussing ways of integrating the operator's fixed broadband network with that of Telecom Italia (TIM) since last June, but talks have reportedly reached a deadlock due to regulatory, funding and governance issues. Earlier this year Telecom Italia CEO Luigi Gubitosi described the business model of Open Fiber as a "failure" and insisted that a single broadband network should be controlled by a vertically integrated player such as TIM.
An unnamed source from the co-ruling 5-Star Movement told Reuters the party was ready to support Macquarie if its investment in Open Fiber could accelerate the creation of a single network. In April, Italy’s industry minister Stefano Patuanelli, a member of the 5-Star Movement, said he looked “very favourably” on the single TIM-Open Fiber broadband project, describing it as “fundamental for the country”.
