Dutch telco KPN’s mobile phone towers in Germany have reportedly attracted the interest of several infrastructure funds and private equity firms.
Funds managed by Swedish private equity firm EQT Partners and the Macquarie Group are among those…
Dutch telco KPN’s mobile phone towers in Germany have reportedly attracted the interest of several infrastructure funds and private equity firms.
Funds managed by Swedish private equity firm EQT Partners and the Macquarie Group are among those considering bids for the towers operated by KPN’s German unit, E-Plus, Bloomberg reported, citing four people familiar with the matter.
KPN has declined to comment.
Last week, reports emerged stating KPN, in which Carlos Slim’s Mexico-based telecoms group America Movil (AMX) recently secured a 27.7 stake, had mandated UBS to sell about 18,000 E-Plus towers in a deal that could raise up to €400m.
Commenting today on KPN’s half-year results, CEO Eelco Blok repeated earlier comments that, following its strategic review of the German unit in the second quarter, the company has “an even stronger belief in the significant value of E-Plus”.
Last Tuesday (17 July), Bernstein Research analysts speculated that KPN and Spanish telecoms group Telefonica could form a tower sharing agreement in Germany, similar to those recently adopted by other European operators.
“Despite the apparent collapse of merger/acquisition talks between KPN and Telefonica, there may still be some solution open to merge 02 and E-Plus in Germany (the most attractive option for value creation in the eyes of Telefonica),” the analysts said in a recent report.
KPN also used today’s half-year results announcement as an opportunity to confirm it has launched the sale of its Belgian unit Base.
“Base is a successful challenger with excellent momentum for continued upside; we expect a sale price to reflect that,” Blok said.
The KPN Group reported revenues and other income of €3.192bn for Q2 2012, down from €3.290bn in Q2 2011. The decline, attributed to reduced revenues in The Netherlands, was partly offset by increased revenues in Germany, Belgium and the iBasis business.
Blok said the group will continue “a constructive” dialogue with AMX.
“We will explore diligently any potential areas of cooperation that are viable, value accretive, in line with our strategy and in the interests of all shareholders and other stakeholders.”
