Vodafone is moving ahead with the IPO of its subsidiary Vantage Towers in Q1 as planned. The company plans to list on the Frankfurt stock market by the end of March, Vodafone announced. Only existing shares of Vantage will be sold by Vodafone, in a "meaningful minority" to give the company a sufficient free float.
Headquartered in Duesseldorf, Vantage Towers was created last year to group Vodafone's tower assets in Europe and counts 82,000 macro sites across 10 countries. While Vodafone remains the anchor tenant, the company expects the quality sites will attract other tenants and grow revenues. Vantage targets mid-single digit revenue growth and a mid-to-high single digit increase in recurring free cash flow, with 60 percent of the latter paid out in dividends.
Vantage said it has credit agreements in place for when it completes the IPO to support its growth strategy. Leverage is estimated at 4.0x as of end-March, leaving room for further growth if expansion opportunities arise. Its first dividend of EUR 280 million will be paid in July.
While Vodafone remains the majority shareholder, Vantage has its own management and a supervisory board with four of the nine members independent.
