Deutsche Telekom to sell 51% of towers business

LONDON/BERLIN, July 14 (Reuters) – Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE) has agreed to sell 51% of its towers business enterprise to a consortium of Canada’s Brookfield and U.S. personal fairness company DigitalBridge after they created a shock past-moment bid that valued the device at 17.5 billion euros ($17.5 billion).

Brookfield (BAMa.TO) experienced initially aided to fund a binding bid by Spanish telecoms firm Cellnex (CLNX.MC), just before Cellnex withdrew on Wednesday. read through a lot more

The German telecoms large will continue to keep the remaining 49% stake of the GD Towers organization, with the offer envisioned to near to the conclude of the calendar year.

Proceeds of 10.7 billion euros will aid Deutsche Telekom slice credit card debt, when it operates towards getting a majority share in its T-Cell U.S. subsidiary.

“We crystalise the value of our tower belongings, thereby building benefit for our shareholders,” Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges reported.

Brookfield and DigitalBridge (DBRG.N) “have deep pockets for the coming actions,” Höttges additional, indicating their job in fostering field consolidation all through a media briefing.

Deutsche Telekom shares had been down 1.6% at 1102 GMT.

The offer is Germany’s most significant this yr and Europe’s next biggest, right after the Benetton spouse and children and U.S. fund Blackstone’s (BX.N) 58 billion euro takeover of Italian infrastructure group Atlantia (ATL.MI). examine extra

The towers sale kicked off in March, drawing notice from heavyweight financial investors including U.S. buyout fund KKR (KKR.N) which teamed up with World wide Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Stonepeak on a rival bid. read far more

Numerous telecoms companies have carved out towers enterprises, or launched joint ventures with other businesses, to increase money though retaining a stake in functions.

Goldman Sachs encouraged Deutsche Telekom on the sale, although Perella Weinberg Partners, Evercore and Barclays worked with DigitalBridge together with legislation firms Allen & Overy and Morgan Lewis.

With about 800 staff, GD Towers operates radio towers at additional than 40,000 places in Germany and Austria. In 2021, the business reached gross sales of around 1.1 billion euros.

Vodafone’s Frankfurt-stated towers small business Vantage Towers (VTWRn.DE) and American Tower (AMT.N) experienced regarded as bids before in the auction system. browse far more

“The partnership staying fashioned these days is about creating the up coming technology electronic infrastructure champion of Europe,” said DigitalBridge CEO Marc Ganzi.

The infrastructure financial investment business manages $47 billion of property concentrated on digital infrastructure these kinds of as wi-fi towers, details facilities and fiber networks.

($1 = .9981 euros)

Reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr in London and Matthias Inverardi in Duesseldorf
Producing by Rachel Extra in Berlin Modifying by Jacqueline Wong and Mark Potter

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