KPN has entered into an agreement with American Tower Corporation to sell a portfolio of nearly 2,000 mobile towers in Germany for €393 million.
KPN will use the cash proceeds to continue to invest in what it termed an “accelerated mobile network roll-out” in Germany and to improve its net debt position.
The deal remains subject to clearance by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. It will give KPN a “book gain” of around €100 million. KPN said its outlook for 2012 remains unchanged following this transaction.
“We are very pleased with this transaction. It is in accordance with our strategy, as we do not consider the ownership and development of mobile towers to be a core part of our operations. It is also at an attractive valuation. This transaction in Germany follows the sales of a large part of our mobile towers in The Netherlands between 2008 and 2012. American Tower Corporation has a strong operational track record and we look forward to a successful partnership which will support E-Plus’ network stability and business prospects,” said Eric Hageman, CFO KPN.
Located throughout Germany, the mobile towers are used by both E-Plus and other mobile network operators to house network equipment. As part of this transaction, E-Plus and American Tower Corporation have entered into a long-term master lease agreement under which E-Plus leases back space on the mobile towers which it requires for its own network equipment. Currently, E-Plus already leases space on a large number of mobile towers in Germany.
UBS acted as sole advisor on the transaction, which it said was the largest sale of towers in Europe to date.