Spain-based tower company Cellnex Telecom (CLNX.MC), has acquired the 30 percent stake from French telecom operator, Iliad, that Iliad holds in OnTower Poland, the Polish telecommunications infrastructure company. OnTower Poland was originally established by Iliad and Cellnex in 2021, as part of Cellnex’s acquisition of roughly 7,000 sites from Iliad-owned mobile network operator Play, in Poland, with Cellnex holding the majority 70 percent share. With this transaction valued at around $557 million, Cellnex will now control 100 percent of OnTower Poland.
OnTower Poland currently operates nearly 8,500 towers in Poland and plans to deploy 3,400 new sites by 2030. The company has a 20-year service provision contract with Play, with renewal options for additional successive 10-year periods.
At the end of 1Q23, Cellnex reported that it owned and operated 110,245 towers in 12 European countries. The company has a current build-to-suit program of more than 15,700 towers that will bring Cellnex’ total portfolio to over 135,600 sites by 2030. Cellnex is the second largest independent multinational tower operator in the world behind American Tower (NYSE: AMT), according to Inside Towers Intelligence.
Cellnex says that this transaction is an intermediate step in the process of actively assessing strategic options for its current portfolio in order to achieve an Investment Grade rating.
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