Macquarie is bidding for a 50 percent stake in Open Fiber, an Italian broadband network operator jointly owned by Enel and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), according to several news reports.
Macquarie has submitted a non-binding bid to purchase some of all of Enel’s ownership stake in a deal that could fetch between €3 billion and €6 billion ($3.4 billion and $6.7 billion).
The transaction could speed up ongoing negotiations between Telecom Italia (TIM) and Open Fiber to establish a single network, according to Reuters.
The Italian government has called on the companies to merge their fiber network assets, but has been stalled over the course of several months due to differences over issues such as governance and regulation.
