Telecom Italia SpA is considering spinning off and listing its data center business in Italy for a potential valuation of about €1 billion, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources.
CEO Luigi Gubitosi reportedly wants to form a separate unit for the telco's data centers by the first half of 2020, ahead of an IPO. Telecom Italia intends to retain control of the new unit and keep the operations in its home market for security reasons.
The plan for the data centers would reportedly be a repeat of Telecom Italia's 2015 spinoff and listing of its wireless towers unit, Infrastrutture Wireless Italiane SpA, which absorbed Vodafone Group PLC's Italian tower assets in July.
The Italian telco is considering selling about €2 billion of assets to help ease its debt pile of more than €25 billion, according to previous reports. The company is looking at merging its dominant fixed-line network with a Enel SpA's wholesale fiber unit Enel Open Fiber SpA. It also agreed to sell its majority stake in its broadcasting subsidiary Persidera SpA to a consortium of infrastructure fund F2i SGR SpA and EI Towers SpA.
