Vodafone Group Plc (VOD)
- Barrons.com
A Date Is Set for Vodafone’s Telecoms Infrastructure Spinoff. How the $20 Billion IPO Could Be a Major 5G Play.
Telecoms giant (VOD)has set a date for the intended listing of its valuable phone tower business, which will open the door to public investment in infrastructure critical to the widespread rollout of 5G in Europe. The long-awaited float of Vantage Towers—likely to be worth around $20 billion in the largest European initial public offering in 2021 so far—should come by the end of March. Vodafone, a FTSE 100 constituent and the world’s second-largest mobile phone company, operates across Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
- Reuters
UPDATE 4-Vodafone's towers arm plans biggest European IPO of 2021 so far
Vantage Towers, the mobile masts company spun out of Vodafone Group, plans to float in Frankfurt by the end of March in a deal that could value it at up to 18 billion euros ($22 billion), making it Europe's largest listing so far this year. Duesseldorf, Germany-headquartered Vantage operates 82,000 towers across 10 countries, where it is usually the leading or second largest supplier. Vodafone said on Wednesday it would sell a "meaningful minority" stake to create a liquid market in Vantage Towers' shares.
- Financial Times
Vantage hopes to take advantage of tower dealmaking boom
Vantage Towers has signalled its ambition in Europe as Vodafone’s multi-billion pound phone masts business prepares to float, saying there are 170,000 towers potentially up for grabs in the coming years as the market consolidates. Vodafone carved out the assets into Vantage, a separate tower company, which the group said on Wednesday it expected to have listed in Germany by the end of March. The British company will maintain a majority stake in the tower business, which has 82,000 masts in 10 European markets, but the amount of shares being sold will be “meaningful” to ensure liquidity, said Vivek Badrinath, chief executive of Vantage.
