Although a Bloomberg report indicated that while KKR may be favoured, the private equity firm faces competition from Cellnex Telecom, who are bidding for Vantage alongside Singapore wealth fund GIC.
KKR has teamed up with Global Infrastructure Partners in the race to buy Vantage Towers and initially faced competition from the likes of American Tower and EQT, however, it is understood that the KKR deal is preferred.
The Bloomberg report added that Cellnex is seeking to buy a majority stake in the company to give it “operational control”.
Vodafone holds around 81% of Vantage Towers and accepted bidding offers for the business last week.
Shares in Vantage rose as much as 3.5% following news that the KKR deal was favoured.
The KKR-led group responsible for negotiations will be keen to avoid a repeat of their last-minute loss in July in the auction for a majority stake in Deutsche Telekom AG’s tower unit, which eventually went to Brookfield Asset Management.
