(Alliance News) - French telecoms firm Iliad SA, owner of Free, has submitted a bid to buy Vodafone Group PLC's Italian unit, a company spokesman told AFP on Tuesday, confirming a report by the financial news agency, Bloomberg, without disclosing any financial details.Â
Iliad, owned by telecoms billionaire by Xavier Niel, entered the Italian mobile market in 2018 where it has since built up a market share of 11% and has subsequently also moved into the fixed line sector.Â
It is targeting revenue of around EUR1.0 billion in Italy this year.Â
Vodafone Italia holds a share of 29% in the mobile market in Italy and a 16% share in fixed-line telephony.Â
Set up in 1999 and currently with 42.7 million subscribers, Iliad is Europe's sixth-biggest mobile operator.Â
Shares in Vodafone closed 0.3% lower at 137.02 pence on Tuesday in London.
Telecom Italia is itself also being eyed by US investment fund KKR, which said in November that it was prepared to put pay EUR10.8 billion to acquire 100% of the historic Italian operator.Â
source: AFP
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