MADRID, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Spain's Telefonica has
hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to sell its 50% stake
in a mobile masts operator in Britain, El Confidencial reported
on Monday, citing sources close to the matter.
The stake in Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure
Limited, which Telefonica shares with UK rival Vodafone,
would be worth around 2 billion euros ($2.4 billion), El
Confidencial said.
A spokesman for Telefonica declined to comment and officials
at Goldman Sachs didn't immediately reply to a request for
comment.
The Spanish telecom firms had said it was open to selling
the stake in Cornerstone when it sold its mobile phone masts in
Europe and Latin America to American Tower for 7.7
billion euros earlier this year.
Telefonica is in the process of selling down assets to cut
its debt, and also plans to use proceeds from some divestments
to fund other acquisitions.
($1 = 0.8485 euros)
(Reporting by Inti Landauro and Clara-Laeila Laudette
Editing by Mark Potter)