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By Arno Schuetze, Pamela Barbaglia and Abhinav Ramnarayan
FRANKFURT/LONDON, July 17 (Reuters) - UBS and
Morgan Stanley are expected to organise the lucrative
listing of Vodafone's European towers unit - a deal that could
value the entire business at up to 16 billion euros ($18
billion), sources familiar with the matter said.
The two banks boast a close relationship with Vodafone
and both pitched to become joint global coordinators in
the listing, which is expected early next year, the sources
said.
Goldman Sachs has also pitched for a top job in the
initial public offering (IPO) and hopes to be in the driving
seat, they said.
Vodafone declined to comment, while the banks were not
immediately available.
Goldman recently worked on a possible sale of a stake in
Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited (CTIL), a
joint venture between Vodafone and Telefonica which
runs Telefonica's UK tower assets as well as sites in countries
including Spain, Germany and Brazil.
Vodafone said last year it wanted to carve out its mobile
masts in Europe into a new company worth upwards of 18 billion
euros, with a view to listing a minority stake.
The new entity will include Vodafone's stake in Italian
mobile tower group INWIT, three of the sources said,
adding the London-based firm was working to transfer its INWIT
interests into the new business.
One of the sources said Vodafone's towers business was
expected to have an enterprise value of 12 to 16 billion euros.
He added Vodafone could raise 3 to 4 billion euros from the
share sale, which is likely to take place in Frankfurt given
Vodafone's strong presence in Germany, where it recently
purchased Liberty Global's cable networks.
European IPOs raised just $5.6 billion in the first half of
2020, the lowest since 2012, Refinitiv data shows.
But the telecoms industry has proved resilient during the
coronavirus pandemic, with telecoms operators involved in a
series of large deals including the $38 billion merger of
Liberty Global and Telefonica's British businesses.
($1 = 0.8754 euros)
(Reporting by Arno Schuetze, Pamela Barbaglia and Abhinav
Ramnarayan; additional reporting by Paul Sandle and Elvira
Pollina; editing by Mark Potter)
