Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) has begun the process of offloading at least 50 percent of its stake in Cornerstone, the UK’s largest telecoms towers company.
The sale of its entire stake could raise more than £1.5 billion if successful, with the total value of Cornerstone estimated to be around £3 billion.
The sale has been sent to potential bidders and VMO2 has appointed Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan to oversee the process. If the stake sale goes ahead, VMO2 will use the cash to help fund its network rollouts.
VMO2 has pledged to spend £10bn ($13.5bn) over the next five years after its official launch as a merged entity in mid-2021. The company is currently upgrading its hybrid fibre coaxial network to fibre and continuing its 5G rollout, both of which are costly endeavours.
Selling passive infrastructure assets and businesses is a well-trodden path in the telecoms industry, as operators seek to release cash to deploy elsewhere.
While some operators have sold their towers altogether as part of debt-reduction efforts, others have retained a presence, attracted by the longer-term potential of the passive infrastructure space as networks become denser.
Vodafone transferred its own stake in Cornerstone to its Vantage Towers unit two years ago, ahead of its IPO.
(Image Credit: Virgin Media O2)
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