Deutsche Telekom to sell 51% of towers business

LONDON/BERLIN, July 14 (Reuters) – Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE) has agreed to sell 51% of its towers business enterprise to a consortium of Canada’s Brookfield and U.S. non-public fairness agency DigitalBridge soon after they manufactured a shock past-moment bid that valued the device at 17.5 billion euros ($17.5 billion).

Brookfield (BAMa.TO) had initially assisted to fund a binding bid by Spanish telecoms business Cellnex (CLNX.MC), ahead of Cellnex withdrew on Wednesday. go through a lot more

The German telecoms big will retain the remaining 49% stake of the GD Towers enterprise, with the offer predicted to close to the conclusion of the year.

Proceeds of 10.7 billion euros will aid Deutsche Telekom reduce debt, when it is effective towards buying a majority share in its T-Mobile U.S. subsidiary.

“We crystalise the worth of our tower property, thus developing benefit for our shareholders,” Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges said.

Brookfield and DigitalBridge (DBRG.N) “have deep pockets for the coming steps,” Höttges included, indicating their role in fostering sector consolidation during a media briefing.

Deutsche Telekom shares ended up down 1.6% at 1102 GMT.

The offer is Germany’s most important this year and Europe’s second major, just after the Benetton family and U.S. fund Blackstone’s (BX.N) 58 billion euro takeover of Italian infrastructure group Atlantia (ATL.MI). study far more

The towers sale kicked off in March, drawing attention from heavyweight monetary investors such as U.S. buyout fund KKR (KKR.N) which teamed up with International Infrastructure Associates (GIP) and Stonepeak on a rival bid. read through a lot more

A lot of telecoms corporations have carved out towers corporations, or introduced joint ventures with other firms, to elevate dollars even though retaining a stake in operations.

Goldman Sachs suggested Deutsche Telekom on the sale, even though Perella Weinberg Associates, Evercore and Barclays labored with DigitalBridge along with regulation companies Allen & Overy and Morgan Lewis.

With about 800 staff members, GD Towers operates radio towers at a lot more than 40,000 destinations in Germany and Austria. In 2021, the business obtained product sales of about 1.1 billion euros.

Vodafone’s Frankfurt-detailed towers business Vantage Towers (VTWRn.DE) and American Tower (AMT.N) had regarded bids previously in the auction process. examine far more

“The partnership currently being shaped nowadays is about creating the future generation digital infrastructure winner of Europe,” said DigitalBridge CEO Marc Ganzi.

The infrastructure expenditure agency manages $47 billion of property targeted on digital infrastructure these types of as wireless towers, details facilities and fiber networks.

($1 = .9981 euros)

Reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr in London and Matthias Inverardi in Duesseldorf
Creating by Rachel Additional in Berlin Modifying by Jacqueline Wong and Mark Potter

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.