Vantage Towers

History

2022: Vodafone sells 50% to Vantage Towers for $3.21 billion

In November 2022, Vodafone Group announced the sale of a stake in Vantage Towers, which focuses the group's telecommunications infrastructure. Asset buyers were investment companies KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).

Under the terms of the agreement, a joint venture (JV) is being created on the basis of Vantage Towers, half of which will be owned by Vodafone, and the remaining 50% by a consortium of investors led by KKR and GIP. As a result of the transaction, Vodafone will receive at least $3.21 billion from partners (the funds will be used to pay off Vodafone's debts), and the entire Vantage Towers company is valued at $16.3 billion.

Vodafone sells telecoms infrastructure for billions to pay off debts

The deal is expected to attract additional investment in Vantage, bringing Vodafone to $7.1 billion in revenue depending on the level of interest from Vantage's minority shareholders and whether GIP and KKR can raise more money to increase their stake in the JV.

After the deal closes, Vodafone and the consortium may consider removing Vantage Towers shares from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. At the same time, if by June 30, 2023 the consortium owns less than 50% of Vantage, Vodafone will have the right to sell the shares of the joint venture to third-party investors in order to reduce its stake to 50%.

Vodafone said that by creating a new joint venture, Vantage will be able to expand its colocation business as well as leverage new business opportunities related to small cells, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and peripheral computing.

The deal was announced little more than a year after Vodafone made Vantage Towers a public company. Earlier in 2022, Vodafone CEO Nick Read said the company would consider selling a stake in the business.^[1]

2021: Going public

In mid-March 2021, British mobile operator Vodafone brought its European telecommunications infrastructure division Vantage Towers to the exchange. Trading in shares started on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "VTWR."

Vodafone set the final offer price for the Vantage Towers IPO at €24 per share. Vantage Towers placed 95.8 million shares, the business valuation rose to 12.1 billion euros as part of the IPO.

Vodafone initially set the Vantage Towers offering price range at 22.50-29 euros per share, after which it was reduced to 24-25 euros. Initially, the company calculated that the IPO volume would be from 2 billion euros to 2.8 billion euros. The volume of outstanding shares is 18.9% of the issued and outstanding share capital of Vantage Towers.

Vodafone has listed the operator of its cell towers Vantage Towers

This IPO represents value for our shareholders: it demonstrates how important the cell tower business is in the 5G world, "noted Vodafone CEO Nick Reid.

Vodafone said it would use the proceeds to reduce its debt, which according to Refinitiv is around €69bn.

The Vantage Towers IPO is one of the largest IPOs in Europe in 2021, among which is also the placement of shares in the Polish e-commerce company InPost, the German used car trading platform AUTO1 and the British shoe brand Dr. Martens. Vantage Towers IPO also became the largest listing in Germany since October 2018, when the manufacturer of brake systems for rail and commercial vehicles Knorr Bremse raised $4.4 billion.

Upgrading networks, including telecom towers, to support 5G technology will require about $890 billion between 2020 and 2025, according to the GSMA Association. ^[2]

Notes