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In total, Vodafone will have raised around €5.4 billion from the spinning off and sale of Vantage Towers
Today, Vodafone Group has announced that it will continue to divest of its stake in Vantage Towers, today noting that it has received an additional €500 million from a consortium of infrastructure investors.
Vodafone spun off its European tower assets as Vantage Towers back in the summer of 2020, arguing that the move would simplify its portfolio, monetise its valuable passive assets, and provide vital capital for its 5G and fibre rollouts in various markets.
Shortly after announcing the spin off, Vodafone announced it would float Vantage on the Frankfurt stock market, with the subsequent IPO raising almost €2.6 billion and leaving Vodafone with a 82% stake in the business.
The company’s time on the stock market did not last long, however. After just over a year, at the end of 2022, Vodafone announced that it was selling part of its stake in Vantage towers to a pan-European towerco to a consortium of investment firms KKR & Co., Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP,) and The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF). As part of this ‘landmark moment’, Vodafone said that it would also form a joint venture with the consortium partners, to buy-out the minority shareholders.
This joint venture was named Oak Holdings and today owns an 89% stake in Vantage Towers.
Now, Vodafone’s latest dealings will see it reduce its ownership in Oak Holdings from 64% to 60%, while the private equity consortium will increase its stake to 40%. In total, the exchange will see Vodafone receive an additional €500 million, taking its total proceeds from the sale of Vantage to €5.4 billion.
The number of shares changing hands may not stop here, however, with the agreement allowing the consortium to purchase additional shares to increase their stake in Oak Holdings up to 50% by the end of 2023. Following this period, Vodafone will have a year to sell down its stake to 50% if it so chooses.
Vantage Towers owns and operates roughly 84,600 towers in ten European markets, making it a highly attractive long-term investment for private investors.
For Vodafone, meanwhile, the cash injection could not come at a better time, with the company’s last financial results dubbed “not good enough” by new CEO Margherita Della Valle.
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