The Spanish operator of telecommunications towers Cellnex Telecom has communicated this Wednesday to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) that it is withdrawing from the bid for the purchase of the towers of Deutsche Telekom in Germany and Austria. The group has thus confirmed the news advanced yesterday by the German press.
The group announced last May that it was studying the acquisition of a stake in the company that operates these infrastructures from Deutsche Telecom. "The aforementioned process is in the study phase and, therefore, the terms and conditions of a potential operation (including the valuation) are pending determination," the company explained at the time.
Cellnex considered structuring the purchase through an investment vehicle in which another investment partner would participate. However, after withdrawing from the bid, a consortium led by KKR prevails in the race to acquire this infrastructure, an operation estimated at 18,000 million euros.
The offer from US multinational KKR, backed by US investment firms Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Stonepeak, allows Deutsche Telekom to retain control of its tower business, while giving KKR some control over business management .
The operation would be the largest in Germany this year and the second in Europe, after the acquisition of the Italian infrastructure group Atlantia by the Benetton family and the US fund Blackstone, for 58,000 million euros.
After making its withdrawal from the operation public, Cellnex registered notable increases in the stock market -greater than 5%- during yesterday's session and this Wednesday continues to be one of the most bullish values of the Ibex.
