Spanish telecom operator Telefónica’s subsidiary Telxius Telecom has signed an agreement with American Tower Corporation (ATC) for the sale of its telecommunications towers businesses in Europe and Latin America.
Telxius has telecommunications towers in Spain, Germany, Brazil, Peru, Chile and Argentina.
Telefonica, which holds a 50.1% stake in Telxius, said that ATC will pay 7.7 billion euros ($9.4 billion) for the towers.
The agreement involves 30,722 telecommunication tower sites and covers two separate and independent transactions: One for the European division and another for the business in Latin America.
The Spanish operator noted it would make 3.5 billion euro from the transaction, cash which it plans to use to reduce debt. As part of the sale, it agreed to continue existing leases on the infrastructure.
“This is a deal that makes strategic sense within our roadmap. American Towers was our second supplier after Telxius,” said Telefonica President Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete.
“After this great operation we will continue to focus on our most ambitious objectives: the integration of O2 with Virgin in the United Kingdom, the purchase of Oi mobile in Brazil and the reduction of debt,” the executive said.
Following this operation, American Tower becomes Telefónica’s leading supplier in both Europe and Latin America and maintains its status as a partner in strategic projects in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.
In a separate statement, American Tower said it expects the assets involved in the transaction to generate approximately $775 million in property revenue, approximately $410 million in gross margin, and $390 million in adjusted EBITDA.
“This transaction is transformational for our European business and will establish American Tower as one of the largest independent communications infrastructure providers in Europe. It is also complementary for our Latin American portfolio and positions us to drive strong long-term organic growth across both regions while augmenting our new build programs and enhancing our relationships with key tenants,” said Tom Bartlett, American Tower’s CEO.
“We are excited to broaden our partnership with Telefónica by acquiring a high-quality, well-located portfolio of sites that will further diversify our global footprint and enhance our ability to help provide broadband connectivity for billions of people,” Bartlett added.
ATC also said it aims to spend approximately $500 million to construct a committed pipeline of approximately 3,300 new sites in Germany and Brazil through 2025.
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