A consortium led by Canadian infrastructure company Brookfield Infrastructure has agreed to acquire a 50% stake in the French unit of towerco TDF for an enterprise value of €1.78bn (US$2.2bn).
The remaining 50% is expected to be bought by other…
A consortium led by Canadian infrastructure company Brookfield Infrastructure has agreed to acquire a 50% stake in the French unit of towerco TDF for an enterprise value of €1.78bn (US$2.2bn).
The remaining 50% is expected to be bought by other transaction partners, the company added.
Reuters has reported that Canadian pension fund PSP Investments and its partners would buy the French assets for a total value of €3.5bn (US$4.37bn).
Brookfield plans to make a C$500m (US$438m) equity commitment towards the investment, representing approximately a 23% interest.
“TDF represents an exciting opportunity to invest in one of the leading European communication infrastructure operators. This is a platform with significant scale, comprising a portfolio of high cash flow generating assets with strong growth potential,” said Sam Pollock, CEO of Brookfield.
“Given TDF’s extensive infrastructure footprint, we believe we are well positioned to capture follow-on opportunities in the sector.”
The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2015, subject to regulatory approval.
A TDF deal has long been in the pipeline. Its shareholders – TPG, Ardian, FSI and Charterhouse, advised by Goldman Sachs and Rothschild – first initiated plans to sell part of the company for around €4bn (US$5.4bn) in mid-2013 to repay its debt, then estimated at €3.8bn.
PSP was reported to be competing against another Canadian pension fund, CPPIB, as well as private equity firm Dering Capital and telecoms tower company American Tower for the assets. But the other suitors later exited the process because TDF’s owners would not budge from the asking price.
PSP and its partners are reportedly looking to finance the transaction with a €1.4bn debt package representing 3.6-3.8x the TDF French unit’s core profit.
BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Societe Generale are expected to provide the financing, Reuters cited two lending sources as saying.
The towerco declined to comment on the report, while PSP did not reply to a request for comment.
TDF provides radio and TV transmission services using its satellite, internet and tower operations, and is present in France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Estonia and Monaco. A few months ago, it sold its Hungarian unit back to the government, at a loss, for US$250m.
