Abertis acquires Wind's Italian tower assets for EUR 693 mln

Nieuws Mobiel Italië 2 MAR 2015
Abertis acquires Wind's Italian tower assets for EUR 693 mln

Spanish infrastructure company Abertis has announced the acquisition of 90 percent of the mobile tower unit of Italian operator Wind for EUR 693 million. The Italian subsidiary of Russia's Vimpelcom will retain a ten percent stake in Galata, the unit it set up last month consisting of 7,377 towers plus employees and related contracts. Wind confirmed that the transaction is expected to close within the first quarter of 2015, and that proceeds from the sale will used by the operator to further reduce its debts. In addition, Wind will enter into a 15-year tower services agreement with Galata for the provision of a broad range of services on the mobile tower sites as well as on sites subsequently built by Galata hosting Wind equipment.

The acquisition of Wind’s towers is the Spanish infrastructure company's second foray into the Italian market, having last year reached an agreement to buy TowerCo, which operates the mobile towers located on Italy's toll road network, for a total of EUR 94.6 million. Abertis outbid rival offers from Mediaset-controlled EI Towers, Italian investment fund F2i and American Tower to secure Wind's tower asset.

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