Stonepeak is acquiring a 49% stake in Cellnex Telecom’s Nordics business for €730m.
The real assets fund manager has agreed with the wireless telecommunications infrastructure operator to buy half of Cellnex Sweden and Cellnex Denmark in a deal expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2024.
Cellnex Nordics provides mobile network operators with colocation services for their wireless networking equipment through a network of 4,557 sites across Sweden and Denmark. The company has plans to build and operate around 2,500 additional sites in the region.
Cellnex said it will use the proceeds from the transaction to reduce its debt, in line with the ”objectives set in November 2022 which prioritise organic growth and achieving an investment-grade credit rating by S&P”. Cellnex manages a portfolio of around 135,000 sites —including forecast roll-outs up to 2030 – in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, the UK, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Poland.
Marco Patuano, Cellnex CEO, said: “The sale of a stake in our Nordic business at an appropriate valuation marks another significant step forward in our goal to attain investment-grade ratings.
“The agreement with Stonepeak shows Cellnex’s ability to attract the interest of high-quality financial partners who understand and value the inherent quality of the assets as well as the future opportunities in these markets.”
Cyrus Gentry, managing director at Stonepeak, said: “We believe Cellnex Nordics, as the region’s leading independent tower company, is strategically well positioned to capture outsized organic and inorganic growth over the coming years.
“We view partnering with Cellnex, with its consistent track record of financial performance, execution on built-to-suit delivery, and mergers and acquisitions, as a natural fit for Stonepeak’s core infrastructure strategy.”
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