Telecom Italia’s (TI) sale of towers belonging to its subsidiary TIM Brasil appears to be drawing to a close after a report said that US infrastructure giant American Tower had met the telco’s asking price.
American Tower has offered around €900m…
Telecom Italia’s (TI) sale of towers belonging to its subsidiary TIM Brasil appears to be drawing to a close after a report said that US infrastructure giant American Tower had met the telco’s asking price.
American Tower has offered around €900m (US$1.12bn) for the portfolio, according to a report from Il Sole 24 Ore citing sources close to the matter.
However, TIM is yet to decide whether to open exclusive talks with American Tower and could decide to sell some of the infrastructure separately, the report added.
Speaking on TI’s Q3 results call on 7 November, the Italian incumbent’s CFO, Piergiorgio Peluso, said: “The [Brazilian] tower sale process we have been working on is in its final stage now, and we are expecting the definitive agreement to be executed by the end of this year.”
TIM will use the proceeds from the tower sale for future spectrum payments in Brazil, Peluso said.
American Tower appears to have beaten off competition from Goldman Sachs-backed Cell Site Solutions, which was previously reported to be in the race for the assets. It had been rumoured that the portfolio could be split between the two bidders, although that was when bids were reported to be in the €500m-€600m bracket.
TI was reported to have mandated Morgan Stanley to sell TIM towers in November 2013. The Brazilian operator has a portfolio of roughly 7,000 sites, although it is not clear whether all of these will be sold.
Sizeable tower deals in Brazil took place in June. American Tower spent US$978m on BR Towers, which owns 2,500 towers and operates another 2,000, and US-based SBA Communications bought more than 1,600 sites from TIM’s rival Oi for US$530m.
