Abertis may increase the number of shares offered in tower spin-off Cellnex Telecom’s upcoming IPO, the Spanish market regulator has said. The infrastructure group may now list up to 139,009,944 ordinary shares, or 60% of the share capital, with a…
Abertis may increase the number of shares offered in tower spin-off Cellnex Telecom’s upcoming IPO, the Spanish market regulator has said. The infrastructure group may now list up to 139,009,944 ordinary shares, or 60% of the share capital, with a greenshoe option of up to 10%.
Depending on whether it exercises this overallotment option, Abertis will hold between 34% and 40% of the new company, which is due to start trading on Thursday.
The IPO will be worth up to €2.14bn, based on an estimated share price of between €12 and €14, should the greenshoe option be fully exercised.
The listing is aimed at capturing organic and M&A growth opportunities in the European telecom infrastructure market, facilitating access to capital markets and new financing channels, Abertis said.
“With very favourable market conditions for telecommunications infrastructure operators, the IPO of Cellnex Telecom will help drive growth and consolidate its position of leadership in Europe,” Francisco Reynés, Cellnex Telecom chairman and Abertis Infraestructuras CEO said.
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and CaixaBank are acting as joint global coordinators on the offering. Banco Santander, BNP Paribas, Citigroup and Societe Generale are serving as joint bookrunners. BBVA and BTG Pactual are co-lead managers.
Having acquired 7,377 towers from Italian mobile operator Wind Telecomunicazioni in early March, Cellnex Telecom owns and operates 15,170 sites, of which 7,472 are located in Spain and 7,698 in Italy.
Cellnex has also reportedly attracted interest from Italian state-owned broadcast tower operator Rai Way, which recently turned down an acquisition offer from rival EI Towers, a subsidiary of Berlusconi-owned Mediaset Group.
Rai Way management was recently quoted as saying that it would meet Abertis to explore ways to cooperate.