American Tower announced an agreement to sell a 30 percent stake in its ATC Europe business to Canadian pension fund Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) in a transaction valued at over EUR 1.6 billion. In a statement, American Tower said the deal is based on an enterprise value of more than EUR 8.8 billion for ATC Europe and that it will retain managerial and operational control, plus day-to-day oversight of ATC Europe, with CDPQ receiving rights as well as seats on ATC Europe’s board.
The US company added that the transaction will help to finance its EUR 7.7 billion acquisition of Telefonica’s infrastructure unit Telxius, encompassing around 30,000 tower sites in Germany, Spain, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina, as well as creating a framework through which it can evaluate and finance future expansion opportunities.
The sale of the ATC Europe stake to CDPQ is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. The Telxius deal is scheduled to close already in Q2 for the majority of the sites in Europe, with part of the German assets closing in Q3. After the takeover, ATC will have around 30,000 sites in total in Europe.
ATC announced separately plans for a public sale of 9 million shares to help finance the Telxius takeover. Priced at USD 244.75 per share, the offering's gross proceeds are USD 2.2 billion. The underwriters have an option to sell another 900,000 shares if demand warrants.
American Tower recently reported property revenue for the first quarter up 7.9 percent to USD 2.1 billion, with full-year revenues expected to grow 7.5 percent to around USD 8.5 billion.
