Spain’s Cellnex and Italian infrastructure fund F2i are set to increase their offer to buy a 45 per cent stake in Italian towers firm, Inwit, from Telecom Italia, according to Reuters.

The improved offer is expected to be made by mid-March, the deadline for binding bids, according to sources.

One source said Cellnex/F2i might go as high as €5 per Inwit share, which would value the entire company in the region of €3 billion, compared to its current market value of €2.76 billion.

However, another source said the partners would be unwilling to go as high as €5 per share.

The Cellnex/F2i partnership has been viewed as the frontrunner although some have questioned whether its €4.3-4.5 per share offer is aggressive enough.

“There is a different price when you offer to buy a 30 percent stake or when you have to buy up to 85 percent,” a source said.

Leading rival EI Towers, a towers business controlled by Italy’s Mediaset, has offered €5 per share but for a stake of just under 30 per cent.

Should Cellnex-F2i win out then the consortium would have to make a mandatory bid for the rest of Inwit under Italian law, which stipulates buyers must bid for minorities once a 30 per cent stake has been accrued.

Telecom Italia’s stake in Inwit is around 60 per cent.