Vodafone Group has presented the name Vantage Towers for its infrastructure company. With over 68,000 sites across nine markets in Europe, the company has nearly EUR 1 billion in estimated annual revenues. Vodafone said it plans to list Vantage on the Frankfurt stock market in early 2021, while maintaining a majority stake in the business.
The operator first announced a year ago it was planning to spin off the towers business in order to help reduce debt. The Duesseldorf-based company is operational since May with its own management, preparing for the listing next year, Vodafone said.
With around 90 percent of Vantage's pro forma income coming from Vodafone, the company includes controlling interests in eight markets: Germany, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary and Ireland. It also holds Vodafone's 33.3 percent stake in the Italian towers company Inwit, and the company has started work on bringing its 50 percent stake in its UK joint venture with Telefonica, Cornerstone into the new company.
In line with other companies spinning off passive infrastructure, Vodafone sees opportunities to grow the business by renting sites to other operators. In addition, the roll-out of 5G networks is expected to lead to increased demand for antenna sites. The operator will have a long-term master services agreement with Vantage to maintain services for its own networks.
On a pro forma basis for the year to March 2020, Vantage had annual adjusted EBITDA of EUR 680 million, including EUR 157 million from Inwit. If added, Cornerstone will contribute around EUR 50-70 million more. Operating cash flow, measured as adjusted EBITDA less maintenance capital expenditure of EUR 29 million, is estimated at EUR 494 million per year.
