The British multinational telecommunications company Vodafone Group plc and Vantage towers AG its European towers Unit has set a price range for a planned initial public offering of Vantage, in which shares are worth up to $3.1 billion.
This will be one of the region’s biggest stock market listings this year. and the U.K telecommunications company is planning to sell 88.9 million shares in the unit at 22.50 euros to 29 euros per piece.
RRJ and Digital Colony, the two investment funds agreed to buy 450 million euros and 500 million euros of stock, respectively, the offering which will run through March 17.
The telecommunication company will be competing for investors with Cellnex Telecom SA, which in the beginning of this month announced plans for a capital increase of as much a 7 billion euros.
The capital increase is to help fund its acquisition of French telecommunication towers billionaire Patric Drahi’s Altice Europe NV.
The Chief Executive Officer of Vantage Vivek Badrinath said:
He would consider issuing new shares or borrowing to fund tower acquisitions, amid a flurry of dealmaking in Europe as operators sell mast assets to pay for network upgrades.
Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and UBS are joint global coordinators in this deal.
Vodafone said that Singapore-based global equity fund RRJ, operator digital and infrastructure investor had agreed to investors and buy a total of 950 million euros in shares.
mobile carriers looking to rent capacity from Vantage are direct competitors of the tower company’s majority shareholder and main customer across geographies: Vodafone. Independent European mast operators like Cellnex Telecom SA don’t have this drawback.
Vantage’s offer will put Germany’s IPO market on track for its best year since 2018.
