Telecom Italia received a binding offer from the Ministry of Economy and Finance in its home market and infrastructure company Retelit to jointly buy the operator’s wholesale unit Sparkle.

The offer values the business at €700 million and is valid until 27 January. It is subject to the completion of a financing process and other standard conditions.

In a brief statement TIM noted it would “start the relevant evaluation and decision-making process as soon as possible”.

Exclusive negotiations over the potential sale of Sparkle to the parties have been ongoing since the operator received a non-binding offer from the suitors in October. A deadline for a binding offer was set as the end of November.

At the end of last month TIM extended its deadline for a firm Sparkle offer to 16 December. This was subsequently pushed by another two days to give the parties more time to complete the “necessary activities” and table a firm bid.