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The initial public offering (IPO) will reportedly take place in March, with stock available on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
Mobile tower assets have proved incredibly appealing to investors over the past few years and now Vodafone has confirmed that it will be launching an IPO for their tower spin off Vantage Towers, hoping to take advantage of this trend.
The float will see stock from the business become available by the end of March on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. While the company itself did not announce a target valuation for the IPO, Bloomberg yesterday estimated the company’s value at €15 billion, around €5 billion less than some analysts were speculating earlier this year.
Estimates suggest that the IPO will raise €3–4 billion, with the funds raised largely used to pay down Vodafone’s considerable debt.
Vantage Towers currently operates around 82,000 towers across 10 European markets, with over 7,000 more expected to be built over the next five years.
The news of the IPO will be music to shareholders ears, with Vodafone noting that the move should net them significant returns. Vantage will pay out €280 million in dividends this financial year, with promises to pay 60% of recurring free cash flow the following year.
“The IPO is an important milestone and sets the foundation for the next stage of our growth within the dynamic towers industry,” said Vivek Badrinath, Vantage Towers CEO. “We will be looking to capture the exciting value-creating opportunities the sector has to offer and to build on our position as a leading tower infrastructure company in Europe.”
The value of mobile tower assets has never been higher, with heavy investment in Europe happening throughout 2020. Cellnex is perhaps the largest proponent of this infrastructure strategy, buying all of CK Hutchison’s European towers late last year in a deal worth €10 billion.
Orange has also indicated that it too has similar plans to create an independent tower company. Called Totem, this company will be home to around 25,500 towers in France and Spain, Orange’s largest two European markets.
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