French-owned Iliad Group has agreed to sell mobile towers in France, Italy and Switzerland to Spanish infrastructure firm Cellnex for a combined total of EUR2.7 billion (USD3.0 billion). The deals will see Cellnex pay EUR1.4 billion for a 70% stake in a new company – Iliad TowerCo – that will manage 5,700 sites acquired from Iliad’s French division (Iliad will retain the other 30%), alongside EUR600 million for 100% of Iliad Italia TowerCo, and its roughly 2,200 sites to be acquired from Iliad in Italy. In Switzerland, meanwhile, Cellnex will purchase 90% of Salt TowerCo for EUR700 million. Salt TowerCo’s portfolio will comprise around 2,800 towers.
Under the agreement, Cellnex will also build 2,500 new sites in France, 1,000 in Italy and around 500 in Switzerland between 2020 and 2027. For its part, Iliad will sign master agreements with Cellnex in France and Italy covering and initial period of 20 years, with automatic extensions of ten years, whilst a similar deal will be inked with Salt in Switzerland. Iliad and Cellnex expect to complete the transactions in Q4 2019, once the pacts receive regulatory clearance from the relevant authorities.