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LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The CEO of Deutsche Telekom
said he was open to finding an industrial partner for
its towers infrastructure, days after Vodafone said it
would consider opportunities for such a move for its
recently-listed towers business.
"I'd love to have an industrial partner and I'm willing to
deconsolidate," Tim Hoettges told the Morgan Stanley European
Technology, Media and Telecoms conference on Thursday.
But he said he wanted to retain a role in the decision
making that would follow a deal, particularly in influencing any
further mergers and acquistion.
"Deconsolidation makes to me total sense - I always said
that by the way, I always said a minority IPO path doesn't make
sense," he told the online conference.
"Second, I prefer an industrial solution, but I always need
two to tango."
"I'm open for partners," he added. "Let's find a good logic
for this."
Britain's Vodafone listed its towers business in Frankfurt
in March, selling 19% of the business to new investors.
While selling towers outright would bring in piles of cash,
many telecoms firms are looking to spin off tower businesses, or
launch joint ventures with independent companies, as a way to
keep a chunk of potential future growth.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
