(Alliance News) - Vodafone Group PLC on Wednesday confirmed plans for an initial public offering of European mobile phone tower operator Vantage Towers GmbH.
The Berkshire, England-based telecommunications company said the IPO will be in Frankfurt before the end of March and will consist entirely of existing shares held by Vodafone GmbH.
Vodafone said it is targetting a meaningful minority free float for Vantage Towers and has yet to state an IPO pricing.
Dusseldorf, Germany-headquartered Vantage Towers, which Vodafone separated out from its business in 2020, is "Europe's leading tower infrastructure platform", with more than 68,000 towers across nine markets. Back in July, Vodafone said it planned to list Vantage Towers in Frankfurt.
Vodafone said the IPO will be run by BofA, Morgan Stanley and UBS as joint co-ordinators and Barclays, Berenberg, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies as joint bookrunners.
"The IPO is an important milestone and sets the foundations for the next stage of our growth within the dynamic towers industry. 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. With our superior grid, inflation-linked revenue - secured for the long term - and our strong balance sheet, we have a powerful base to move forward and support our customers' need for better and more extensive connectivity across the continent," said Vantage Towers Chief Executive Vivek Badrinath.
Vodafone's subsidiary Vodafone UK Ltd said last month it planned to transfer its 50% holding in Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Ltd into Vantage Towers, which would add EUR62 million to Vantage Towers' pro forma 2020 financial year adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation after leases.
Shares in Vodafone Group were down 1.5% at 128.02 pence in London on Wednesday.
By Zoe Wickens; zoewickens@alliancenews.com
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