SBA Communications (NASDAQ: SBAC), Blackstone-backed Phoenix Tower International and Spanish fund Asterion Industrial Partners are currently competing to acquire Cellnex Telecom’s Irish unit, Yahoo Finance reported. Binding offers from these three parties are expected next week.
Cellnex Telecom (CLNX: MC), the Barcelona, Spain-based tower company, is the largest independent tower company in Europe, according to Inside Towers Intelligence. At the end of September 2023, the company reported 109,929 active towers and 9,125 DAS nodes across 12 European countries along with 1,759 broadcast sites in Spain. It has commitments for another 17,511 build-to-suit sites scheduled out to 2030. Cellnex’s Irish unit currently operates 1,963 towers with another 446 BTS sites by 2030. A deal to acquire these towers is valued at around $1.07 billion, according to Yahoo Finance sources.
Cellnex started as Abertis Telecom in 2000, and expanded via acquisitions including tower spinoffs from Spanish telecom operators, Telefónica and Yoigo. The company made its initial public offering in 2015, and kept growing as a shared infrastructure operator through more acquisitions.
However, Cellnex revamped its strategy in 2022, to concentrate on debt reduction by exiting non-core markets. Its goal is to garner an investment grade credit rating in 2024.
Toward that goal, in October 2023, Cellnex agreed to sell a 49 percent stake in Cellnex Nordics (Cellnex Sweden and Cellnex Denmark) to New York-based infrastructure investor Stonepeak for nearly $775 million, at a 24x multiple, Inside Towers reported.
Cellnex Nordics provides MNOs in the region with colocation services on 4,614 towers at existing sites across Sweden and Denmark, with BTS commitments for another 2,444 sites. The company will continue to manage Cellnex Nordics on a day-to-day basis while focusing on organic growth.
Cellnex is working with advisors to divest its Polish and Austrian units, according to Yahoo Finance. As of September 30, Cellnex reported its Polish and Austrian operations consisted of 20,501 active towers with another 4,810 BTS commitments.
Cellnex is scheduled to report its 4Q23 and full-year 2023 operating and financial results on February 29. The company said it will provide updates on its strategy during its Capital Markets Day on March 5.
By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor
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