French telecom group Iliad said Monday it has offered to merge its Italian business with Vodafone's, more than a year after the British company rejected a takeover bid for the unit.
Under the offer, Vodafone would get a 50 percent share of the combined unit along with a 6.5-billion-euro ($7.1 billion) cash payment and a two-billion-euro shareholder loan, Iliad said.
Iliad Italia would get the other half along with 500 million euros in cash and a shareholder loan of two billion euros.
The merged business would generate revenues of 5.8 billion euros, Iliad said.
"The market context in Italy calls for the creation of the most innovative telecom challenger, with ability to compete and create value in a competitive environment," Iliad chief executive Thomas Reynaud said in a statement.
The new company "would be fully committed to accelerating the country's digital transformation and especially fiber adoption and 5G deployment, with more than four billon euros of investment planned over the next five years," he said.
Vodafone rejected an offer from Iliad in February 2022 to buy Vodafone Italia for 11.25 billion euros.
Last month, Iliad reported record earnings in France and Italy, with revenue rising by 9.5 percent to 2.35 billion euros in the third quarter.
The French group said earlier this year that it wanted to become one of the top three telecom companies in Europe.
Vodafone said in March that it would cut 1,000 jobs in Italy to reduce costs amid strong competition in Italy.