Vodafone Group Plc has agreed the partial sale of its mobile-phone masts business Vantage Towers to a consortium led by private equity firms Global Infrastructure Partners and KKR & Co in a deal that values the business at $16 billion.
Vodafone’s current 81.7% stake in the business will be put into a joint-venture company Oak BidCo which will then look to acquire the listed shares which account for the remaining 18.3% of the company. Vodafone will also sell a stake in the Oak BidCo at €32 per share to the GIP-KKR consortium, which will end up with between 32 and 50 per cent of the business depending on how many minority shareholders agree to sell their shares.
GIP and KKR will be investing through their core infrastructure strategies. Tower Bridge Infrastructure Partners will be part of the Consortium as a co-investor, with additional funding for the transaction provided by the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
