American Tower Partners With CDPQ in Europe

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American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a global investment group, yesterday announced that CDPQ will acquire a 30 percent stake in ATC Europe as part of a new long-term strategic partnership through a transaction valued at over US$1.3 billion, implying an enterprise value of more than US$7.3 billion for ATC Europe. Pursuant to the partnership agreement, American Tower will retain managerial and operational control, as well as day-to-day oversight of ATC Europe, while CDPQ will obtain seats on ATC Europe’s Board of Directors, along with certain governance rights.

Analyst Spencer Kurn of New Street Research said the partnership with CDPQ likely signals that AMT will be able to expand more quickly in Europe with M&A than on a standalone basis, which could be more accretive to value over time.

“We viewed the Telxius deal as a nice boost to value for AMT,” Kurn said, “but it was never a cornerstone of our investment thesis on the equity, which remains unchanged following the two transactions announced today.”  Continue Reading 

American Tower said the transaction will position them and CDPQ to jointly benefit from sustainable, long-term secular wireless growth trends in select European markets as 5G deployments and demand for communications infrastructure accelerate. ATC Europe’s portfolio, pro forma for the closing of American Tower’s pending Telxius acquisition, will consist of nearly 30,000 communications sites.

Tom Bartlett, American Tower’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are pleased to partner with CDPQ in Europe, where we expect to create tremendous value. CDPQ’s extensive infrastructure experience, deep knowledge of the region and long-term investment philosophy are in close alignment with American Tower’s European strategy, operational excellence and long track record of historical success. This transaction not only contributes to the funding of our pending Telxius acquisition, which will transform our scale and leadership position in highly attractive markets like Germany and Spain, but also creates a solid, adaptable framework through which future expansion opportunities can be evaluated and financed.”

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