Macquarie Offers Enel $3.13 Billion For Italy’s Open Fiber Stake

(Bloomberg) -- Australia’s Macquarie Group Ltd offered 2.65 billion euros ($3.13 billion) for Enel SpA’s 50% stake in Open Fiber SpA.

Enel said Thursday that the company will evaluate Macquarie’s offer for the holding, which is a value net of debt.

CDP would buy 10% of the stake, a sale which would pave the way for Open Fiber’s merger with its larger rival, former telecommunications monopoly Telecom Italia SpA, people familiar with the stake said earlier Thursday. The creation of a single national broadband network is a priority for Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

The aim of the government’s plan is to speed up the country’s fiber rollout while avoiding to duplicate investments. The project is strongly backed by the Finance Ministry, CDP’s majority shareholder. But Enel Chief Executive Officer Francesco Starace has been resisting pressure to agree to the sale, the people said, asking not to be named discussing confidential deliberations.

The plan may be opposed by European authorities. The European Union’s antitrust arm would likely oppose Italy’s plan to create a single national broadband network controlled by former monopoly Telecom Italia, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Thursday.

The European Commission said in an emailed statement that it “is following the developments closely,” and declined further comment. Italy has “no awareness” of any potential EU veto on the plan, said a Treasury official.

Spokespeople for Enel, CDP, Macquaire and the Finance Ministry declined to comment.

Under the deal, Macquarie would get a roughly 40% stake with CDP taking the rest, the people said. That would bring the state-backed lender’s total share of Open Fiber to around 60%.

The new governance means that Macquarie will be able to appoint three board members and Cassa Depositi another three, the person said.

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