CK Hutchison mulling sale of USD 1 bln Italian tower portfolio - report

News Wireless Italy 15 OCT 2018
CK Hutchison mulling sale of USD 1 bln Italian tower portfolio - report

CK Hutchison is reviewing options for its portfolio of mobile phone towers in Italy, including a potential sale, according to unnamed sources cited by Bloomberg. The Hong Kong-based conglomerate took full control of Wind Tre earlier this year after acquiring Veon's 50 percent stake in the Italian operator for EUR 2.45 billion and is now looking to cut debt by divesting all or part of the tower assets, valued at around USD 1 billion, said the sources.

The report added that CK Hutchison may start a formal sale process before the end of the year, with options under consideration including a full divestment of the portfolio of 14,700 base stations.or the sale of a minority stake to wireless infrastructure companies or investment funds.

The news comes after Wind Tre paid out EUR 517 million earlier this month for a 20MHz block of spectrum in the 3.7 GHz band and 200MHz in the 26 GHz band to offer 5G services. The company is also potentially one of the most vulnerable operators to the effects of the price war launched by low-cost challenger Iliad, already posting a 5 percent decline in mobile customers at its Wind and 3 Italia brands in the second quarter of the year.


 

Categories:

Mobile

Companies:

Iliad,  3 Italia,  CK Hutchison,  Veon,  Wind Tre

Countries:

Italy

Tags:

Network equipment, Wireless, M&A buyouts & divestments

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