Vodafone Group Sells Further 10% Stake in Vantage Towers for $1.4 Billion — Update

By Najat Kantouar

Vodafone Group sold a further 10% stake in network company Vantage Towers for 1.3 billion euros ($1.41 billion) as part of a previously agreed deal to share ownership with Global Infrastructure Partners and KKR & Co.

The U.K. telecommunications company said Monday that its stake in Oak Holdings, the partnership that co-controls Vantage Towers, was sold for EUR32 a share. Oak Holdings currently owns 89.3% of Vantage Towers, and Vodafone's effective ownership is now 44.7% following this transaction.

The price is the same as the initial transaction announced in November 2022 when Vodafone agreed to form a new jointly-owned company with the investors that will own its 81.7% stake in Vantage Towers. The sale on Monday is part of the original plan to bring the partners' shares in the company to a 50:50 ownership structure.

To date, the total net proceeds from the sell-down by Vodafone in Vantage Towers amount to EUR6.6 billion. Proceeds will be used for deleveraging and reducing its ratio of net debt to adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and after leases by 0.1 times, which is in line with the company's target.

In March, Vantage entered into a delisting agreement with Oak under which outstanding shareholders in the German telecommunications-infrastructure company will be offered EUR32 a share, valuing the target at EUR16.2 billion.

At 0841 GMT, shares were down 0.16 pence, or 0.2%, at 70.32 pence. Year to date, shares have risen 2.6%.

Write to Najat Kantouar at najat.kantouar@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 22, 2024 05:16 ET (09:16 GMT)

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