Spain-based Abertis has entered into exclusive talks with Wind Telecomunicazioni in relation to the possible acquisition of mobile towers from the Italian mobile operator.
The Spanish company said Wind has selected its subsidiary Abertis Telecom Terrestre as the preferred bidder, without providing any further details. It said only that the period of exclusive talks would run until mid-February, with any final agreement to be communicated accordingly.
Citing unnamed sources, Bloomberg said VimpelCom-owned Wind is selling around 6,000 mobile towers, valuing the assets at around €700 million. The Itali an operator could also sell a further 1,700 towers, which could increase the valuation to about €900 million.
Also citing unnamed sources, Reuters said the deal could be worth about €800 million and would see Abertis buy 90% of a new company, to which more than 7,000 towers would be transferred, with VimpelCom keeping 10%.
Reuters reported in September that Wind was considering the sale and leaseback of 11,000 mobile phone masts, although at the time the deal was valued at a much lower €500 million.
Bloomberg noted that Abertis beat out rival bids from American Tower Corp., Mediaset SpA’s EI Towers SpA and Investment fund F2i SGR SpA.
The move by Wind forms part of a growing trend among operators as they seek to raise much-needed funding by selling and then leasing back their mobile towers.
