Telecom Italia to decide on F2i-Raiway bid for Persidera by early next week - source
MILAN (Reuters) - Telecom Italia (TIM) (TLIT.MI) will decide by early next week whether to accept an offer by infrastructure fund F2i and towers company Raiway (RWAY.MI) for its majority stake in broadcasting unit Persidera, a source familiar with the matter said.
The offer, the only bid received, was worth around 250 million euros (220.67 million pounds), below TIM's valuation for the business of around 350 million euros, three sources said.
But one of the sources said the contract contained clauses, such as earnout rights, which would sweeten the deal.
In an interview with Italian MF newspaper on Tuesday F2i head Renato Ravanelli said the offer was "a package".
"All in all, I'd say our offer is in line with what (Persidera) shareholders were expecting," he told the daily.
French media group Vivendi (VIV.PA), TIM's biggest shareholder, last year agreed to sell TIM's 70 percent stake in Persidera to win antitrust approval for its own plan to gain de facto control of the Italian phone group.
The remaining 30 percent is owned by Italian media group GEDI (GEDI.MI). All the companies involved declined to comment.
"TIM will decide by this weekend or in the early days of next week how to proceed ... two options remain: either sell the stake (in Persidera) or put it into a trust," the first source said.
(Reporting by Giancarlo Navach, Stefano Rebaudo and Stephen Jewkes; editing by Agnieszka Flak)
