Spanish infrastructure group Abertis has agreed to acquire 7,377 telecom towers from Wind Telecomunicazioni for €693m (US$774.29m) as Italian telecoms consolidation heats up.
The deal follows Mediaset-controlled EI Towers’ €1.2bn bid for…
Spanish infrastructure group Abertis has agreed to acquire 7,377 telecom towers from Wind Telecomunicazioni for €693m (US$774.29m) as Italian telecoms consolidation heats up.
The deal follows Mediaset-controlled EI Towers’ €1.2bn bid for state-owned towerco RaiWay, Telecom Italia (TI)’s proposed IPO of its tower business, and 3 Italia’s revived interest in a merger with Wind.
As part of the agreement, Abertis’ telecoms unit Abertis Telecom Terrestre(ATT), which is due to be listed by first half of the year, will hold a 90% stake in Wind’s tower spinoff Galata, while the Italian operator will retain a 10% interest.
Vimpelcom-owned Wind, Italy’s third-largest carrier, will lease back the sites, which are mainly located in urban areas, for 15 years, with an option to extend the lease for a further 15 years, and will also have the right to use additional towers built by Galata.
The assets had also attracted interest from American Towers, EI Towers, as well as Italian infrastructure fund F2i, which had submitted a binding offer with Providence Equity Partners.
The Madrid-based operator will finance the deal with a combination of existing credit lines and new debt, Abertis said in a statement.
HSBC and Banca Imi advised Wind, which will use pay down its nearly €10bn debt burden.
The transaction implies a valuation of approximately some €105 per tower and in excess of 16.0x expected 2015 EBITDA, Banca Imi said.
Further to the acquisition, due to close by April 2015, Abertis will become the largest European towerco, with a portfolio of nearly 15,000 assets, the company said in a statement.
Last May, the company acquired TowerCo, which operates mobile telecoms towers on toll roads in Italy, from Italian motorway operator Atlantia for €94.6m.
Abertis expects to generate a €200m(US$224m) turnover from Galata in the first year of operations, increasing telecoms-related overseas revenues to nearly 35%.
The group posted €4.8bn in annual revenues, up 7% from €4.5bn in 2013. EBITDA stood at €3.1bn, a 10% increase on the previous year’s result, while net debt rose by €859m to €13.8bn.
Highly-leveraged Wind, which reported €4.6bn in 2014 revenues, with a €1.8bn EBITDA, is also rumoured to be in takeover talks with Hutchison Whampoa’s 3 Italia, the country’s fourth carrier.
Last month, Wind’s larger rival, TI, hived off its €1bn-worth tower business, and is looking to list the resulting entity, Inwit, which comprises 11.500 towers, by the summer.
The telco, which intends to retain a majority stake in Inwit after the IPO, has mandated Deutsche Bank and Banca Imi on the deal.
