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Vodafone has introduced the sale of an additional 10 per cent stake in a number one European cell phone masts enterprise for €1.3bn, as chief government Margherita Della Valle continues her plans to simplify the sprawling telecoms group.
The disposal of the stake in Vantage Towers to a consortium of long-term infrastructure traders led by International Infrastructure Companions and KKR will shift the three way partnership to a 50/50 possession construction and assist the telecoms group cut back its debt pile.
Vodafone’s newest deal takes the overall web proceeds from the selldown in Vantage to €6.6bn after an preliminary transaction in 2022. The stake has been bought on the identical worth of €32 a share. Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund bankrolled the 2022 deal.
Vantage Towers operates tens of hundreds of cell towers throughout 10 European international locations, together with the UK, Germany and Italy.
The UK-based group stated proceeds from the sale can be used for chopping its debt ranges and bringing down its web debt-to-adjusted earnings earlier than curiosity, taxes, depreciation and amortisation after leases to the decrease half of its goal vary.
The announcement comes because the group has been steadily promoting belongings. In March, the FTSE 100 firm agreed to promote its Italian operations to Swisscom for €8bn.
This adopted the sale of Vodafone Spain for as much as €5bn to Zegona Communications, based by two former Virgin Media executives, introduced in October.
Vodafone reported its web debt excluding its Spanish and Italian companies as €33.2bn in Could.
Vodafone and Three UK confirmed plans for a home merger in June 2023, which is now being probed by the Competitors and Markets Authority.
On the time of the Italy exit announcement, the corporate stated it could additionally return as much as €4bn to shareholders by buybacks and lower its dividend to 4.5 cents a share from 2025, down from 9 cents on this monetary yr.
Kester Mann, director of shopper and connectivity at analysis group CCS Perception, stated the sector had regarded to monetise infrastructure belongings in recent times. “Promoting towers has proved a preferred ploy for telecom operators seeking to money in on passive infrastructure to scale back debt and assist fund costly community investments,” he famous.
The European tower sector has been present process consolidation.
German group Deutsche Telekom in 2022 agreed to promote a majority stake in its towers enterprise to Brookfield Asset Administration and personal fairness group DigitalBridge Group in a deal that valued the enterprise at €17.5bn.
Spain’s Telefónica and KKR agreed to promote Telxius, a telecom tower unit, to Boston-based American Tower in 2021 for €7.7bn.
