Cellnex Telecom, Abertis’ recently-listed tower unit, plans to offer a minimum of €500m medium-term notes, as part of its €2bn EMTN programme.
Proceeds from the senior unsecured notes, which will include a change of control provision, cross…
Cellnex Telecom, Abertis’ recently-listed tower unit, plans to offer a minimum of €500m medium-term notes, as part of its €2bn EMTN programme.
Proceeds from the senior unsecured notes, which will include a change of control provision, cross default and negative pledge, will be used to refinance part of its existing debt.
The company is targeting a €1.1bn capital structure, consisting of a minimum €500m bond, an increased revolving credit facility of €300m and a term loan for the remaining amount.
“Cellnex is currently managing an increase in its leverage profile following the acquisition of Wind’s Italian tower business, Galata, in March 2015. The issuer has a strong and scalable, cash generative business model that will enable gradual deleveraging,” Fitch Ratings, which assigned the planned offering a BBB- rating, said in a statement.
“We believe that mobile operators are likely to continue to increase their dependence on tower providers given growth in mobile data and the need to meet geographic coverage obligations for LTE,” Fitch added.
Cellnex debuted on the Madrid stock exchange last month in an IPO valuing the company at over €3.2bn. The listing was aimed at capturing organic and M&A growth opportunities in the European telecom infrastructure market, facilitating access to capital markets and new financing channels, infrastructure group Abertis said.
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and CaixaBank acted as joint global coordinators on the IPO. Banco Santander, BNP Paribas, Citigroup and Societe Generale served as joint bookrunners. BBVA and BTG Pactual were co-lead managers.
Having acquired 7,377 towers from 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. The mobile towers business in Spain and Italy accounts for over 50% of Cellnex revenues, while its Spanish broadcasting infrastructure accounts for 35%. The company posted €436m in 2014 revenues, with an EBITDA of €178m.
