MILAN (Reuters) – Telecom Italia (TIM) will hold a board meeting on Friday over a 700 million euro ($772 million) non-binding bid the telecoms group has received for its Sparkle subsea cable unit, two sources told Reuters on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Italy’s Treasury and Spanish fund Asterion submitted a joint bid for Sparkle.

The two sources said directors would convene on Friday afternoon for an initial discussion on the proposal.

The board is expected to hand Chief Executive Pietro Labriola a mandate to negotiate a binding bid, one of the sources added. ($1 = 0.9067 euros)

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina; Editing by Valentina Za)