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REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsMILAN, Sept 20 (Reuters) - U.S. fund KKR and Italy's Treasury are set to ask Telecom Italia (TIM) for more time to arrange a joint bid for its landline grid, three sources close to the matter said. KKR (KKR.N) last month won the backing of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government, which authorised the Treasury to join its bid for an asset deemed of strategic national interest. The U.S. fund's preliminary bid valued the business -- dubbed NetCo -- at around 23 billion euros ($25 billion) including debt and taking into account a number of variables. The French group, which owns 24% of TIM, has so far shown little appetite for a deal under KKR's terms. The Treasury is evaluating the request, one of these people said, without adding further details.

Persons: Yara, Giorgia, Arnaud de Puyfontaine, Giancarlo Giorgetti, Elvira Pollina, Giuseppe Fonte, Alvise Armellini, Alexander Smith Organizations: REUTERS, KKR, Italy's Treasury, Telecom Italia, Treasury, TIM, NetCo, Reuters, Vivendi, Thomson Locations: Rome, Italy, U.S

MILAN, May 15 (Reuters) - Australian fund Macquarie (MQG.AX) is raising legal hurdles over a plan backed by Italy's Treasury for state lender CDP to join forces with U.S. fund KKR (KKR.N) to buy Telecom Italia's (TIM) landline grid, three sources said. People familiar with the matter told Reuters this month the Treasury would welcome CDP joining forces with KKR for TIM's prized grid, with one source saying government officials ware pushing for CDP to drop its separate proposal. But Macquarie is raising legal issues about a possible alliance between CDP and KKR, three sources close to the matter told Reuters late on Monday. CDP and Macquarie are co-investors in Open Fiber, a smaller rival to TIM. One of them said Macquarie was aiming to improve its offer with CDP ahead of next month's deadline.

MILAN, May 15 (Reuters) - Australian fund Macquarie (MQG.AX) is raising legal hurdles over a plan backed by Italy's Treasury for state lender CDP to join forces with U.S. fund KKR (KKR.N) in a deal to buy Telecom Italia's landline grid (TIM) (TLIT.MI), three sources said on Monday. But Macquarie is now raising legal issues about a possible alliance between CDP and KKR, three sources close to the matter told Reuters on Monday. CDP and Macquarie are co-investors in Open Fiber, a smaller rival to TIM. One of them said Macquarie was aiming to improve its offer with CDP ahead of the June 9 deadline. Separate sources with knowledge of the matter had said this month KKR had expressed its willingness to work further on its bid.

CDP has teamed up with Australian infrastructure fund Macquarie (MQG.AX) to bid for Italy's most important telecommunications infrastructure, for which U.S. investment firm KKR (KKR.N) has already presented an offer. One of the people familiar with the matter said that CDP board members were set to meet at 3 p.m. (1400 GMT) to approve the offer. In recent weeks, sources have told Reuters that CDP-Macquarie and KKR have both set an 18-billion-euro ($19 billion) enterprise value for TIM's grid. CDP's offer would also involve TIM's smaller fibre-optic network rival Open Fiber, which is owned by CDP and Macquarie and would be folded into TIM's grid down the road. Under Italian rules, Rome has the power to block unwanted interest for assets of strategic importance such as TIM's grid.

CDP has teamed up with Australian infrastructure fund Macquarie (MQG.AX) in the offer for Italy's most important telecommunications infrastructure, which would compete with one submitted by U.S. investment firm KKR (KKR.N). In recent weeks, sources have told Reuters that CDP and Macquarie were ready to value TIM's grid at around 18 billion euros ($19 billion), including some 6 billion euros of debt. An offer from CDP and Macquarie leaves several scenarios open, two government officials said, without elaborating. Besides owning 10% of TIM, CDP controls fibre optic rival Open Fiber. Meloni's predecessors, Mario Draghi and Giuseppe Conte, have both backed plans to combine TIM's and Open Fiber's grids.

Meloni's administration wants to secure public control of TIM's grid, but there is no common ground within the government on how to achieve this. KKR, which has already invested 1.8 billion euros ($1.9 billion)on TIM's grid, has now bid for a controlling stake in a unit comprising the entire TIM's domestic fixed access network and submarine cable business Sparkle. Ceding control of TIM's grid is a main plank of TIM Chief Executive Pietro Labriola's efforts to cut the former phone monopoly's 25 billion euro net debt and revamp its struggling domestic business. TIM's confirmed its board would meet on Friday to discuss KKR's offer and "take appropriate decisions". CDP's potential offer has been hampered in part by regulatory concerns given it is the main investor in TIM's fibre-optic rival Open Fiber, people familiar with the matter said.

MILAN, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Italy's government on Tuesday dropped legislation aimed at giving top flight soccer league Serie A the option of extending domestic broadcast deals beyond their scheduled expiry next year, documents seen by Reuters showed. That is only a half of the amount England's Premier League collects under its existing TV deals in its home market, according to UEFA data. Home to storied soccer clubs such as Juventus (JUVE.MI), AC Milan and Inter Milan, Serie A plans to seek bids for the rights to screen its matches in Italy for subsequent seasons. It was not immediately clear whether the measure would be included in any other bill at a later stage. ($1 = 0.9291 euros)Reporting by Elvira Pollina and Giuseppe Fonte, editing by Pritha Sarkar and Keith WeirOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

CDP is seeking to finalise its bid after U.S. investment firm KKR (KKR.N) last week filed its own offer for the same Telecom Italia (TIM) asset. Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters KKR's approach valued the venture at about 20 billion euros ($21.4 billion). Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni repeatedly said her government wants to secure public control of TIM's network. But there is no common ground yet within her administration on how to reach such a goal and it was no clear whether a CDP bid would receive the blessing of the Treasury. Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti believes Rome has "multiple options" to put TIM's network under strategic government control, a separate source said, without elaborating.

But key officials in Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government have expressed strong reservations about CDP's plans for TIM, making a non-binding bid from the state lender for the network unlikely, three sources told Reuters. Top government officials are expected to meet later on Monday to discuss plans for TIM, among other issues. Marking a break with the past, Meloni on Friday entrusted the government's broadband strategy to Cabinet Undersecretary Alessio Butti, who has openly criticised CDP's plans for TIM. Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti last week reiterated that the government wants to win control of TIM's network which is deemed of strategic interest, adding such a goal can be reached in "several ways". Giorgetti also warned that Butti's plans for TIM needs to be extensively discussed within the government.

Cabinet undersecretary Alessio Butti will now be in charge of the strategy, according to a decree on Friday seen by Reuters. Butti has been critical of the previous government's plan to cut TIM's 25 billion euro ($26 billion) debt pile by selling its landline grid. The sale is a key plank of CEO Pietro Labriola's strategy to break up and revamp the battered company. The multi-billion euro offer would be part of a broader project to merge TIM's network with smaller rival Open Fiber, which is controlled by CDP. Earlier this month Giorgetti warned that Butti's plans for TIM needs to be extensively discussed within the government.

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