Brazilian operator Oi has agreed to sell 1,641 towers to the local subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed SBA Communications for R$1.17bn (US$530m).
It is the latest in deal in the highly-active Brazilian tower market. Last week SBA’s rival American Tower bought…
Brazilian operator Oi has agreed to sell 1,641 towers to the local subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed SBA Communications for R$1.17bn (US$530m).
It is the latest in deal in the highly-active Brazilian tower market. Last week SBA’s rival American Tower bought private equity-backed BR Towers and its 4,000 sites for R$2.18bn (US$978m).
Meanwhile Providence Equity Partners has hired Credit Suisse to dispose of its subsidiary Gruppo TorreSur, which has more than 6,000 sites, and Telecom Italia is being advised by Morgan Stanley as it looks to offload TIM Brasil’s tower assets.
SBA was advised by Citigroup on the transaction.
In a notice to the market Oi said it had transferred shares representing 100% of the share capital of the entity which held its towers to SBA Torres Brasil.
Oi said the disposal would enhance its financial flexibility, allowing it to extend its debt maturities, reduce costs related to financing and strengthen its liquidity position.
The mobile operator has agreed long-term lease agreements with SBA and expects the sale to complete in December.
It is Oi’s third sale of towers to SBA in the last year. It has already sold 4,100 sites to the US towerco, which raised US$1.3bn. SBA now has 7,000 towers in Brazil.
Last month Oi’s CEO Zeinal Bava signalled another tower disposal was likely. Speaking on the company’s Q1 conference call Bava said it was looking to sell between 1,500 and 2,000 towers in the medium term as part of its policy to offload non-strategic assets.
Oi is in the process of finalising its merger with Portugal Telecom following a US$6.22bn capital raise in May. The companies expect to close their tie-up in Q3.
