Telecom Italia’s international infrastructure and services arm was excluded from the deal in which US fund KKR bought the domestic network, split off from the services business
Telecom Italia (TIM) has agreed to sell Sparkle, its international infrastructure and services unit, to Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and Retelit, a subsidiary of the Spanish infrastructure fund Asterion. The deal values Sparkle at €700 million and it is thought the deal will be closed in the first quarter of 2026.
The deal is valid until 27 January next year, but given the Italian telco’s track record for convoluted, long-winded negotiations between multiple parties, almost anything could happen.
Sparkle was excluded from the protracted wrangle of selling TIM’s domestic infrastructure to US asset investment firm KKR for about €22 billion, although Sparkle’s sale to KKR as a separate package was on the table for a considerable time. Clearly the parties could not agree terms.
The deal that has been accepted now was first put forward as a non-binding offer at the end of last year. The price is considerably lower than the €1 billion and even €1.5 billion price tags that were bandied about at various stages in the complex talks that also involved splitting TIM into a NetCo and ServCo.