Cellnex leaves Ireland and continues its debt reduction

2024-03-05 17:26:00

Cellnex in Ireland is over. The Spanish group, European leader in telecommunications towers, announced on Tuesday the sale of its assets in this country to its American competitor Phoenix Tower International (PTI) for 971 million euros, in order to accelerate its debt reduction. The European giant Towerco (telecom tower companies) and its American counterpart, owned by the Blackstone investment fund, “have reached an agreement” for the sale of all of Cellnex’s Irish assets, i.e. 1,900 telecommunications towers, the group said in a press release.

This sale, announced on the occasion of a “investor day” organized in London, will allow the Spanish group to “reduce your debt”, “in accordance with the objectives set” by the company’s new strategic plan, presented in « November 2022 », specifies the company. Cellnex, which has experienced a spectacular rise in recent years by multiplying acquisitions, particularly in France and Italy, has launched a new strategy based on a “consolidation” of its activities and asset sales.

Strategic shift

This strategic shift has already led the Spanish group, whose model is based on the rental of telecommunications pylons to telephone operators, to sell 2,353 telecommunications towers in September to Phoenix Tower International (PTI) and Bouygues Telecom for 630 million euros. In the fall, the group also sold 49% of its subsidiary Cellnex Nordics, which has activities in Denmark and Sweden, to the Stonepeak investment fund, for 730 million euros.

This new sale will allow “simplify our structure and concentrate our efforts on (…) the main markets where we operate”, underlines in the press release the general director of Cellnex, Marco Patuano, who replaced in June the historic boss of the Barcelona group, Tobias Martinez. Cellnex, which has not made a profit since 2017, suffered a net loss of 297 million euros last year, despite a turnover of 4.07 billion euros, up 16% over a year. Its total debt reached 17.29 billion euros at the end of 2023.

(with AFP)