The sale of the 10% means that Vodafone has achieved the ownership ratio of Vantage that it planned for in a deal to sell part of the towerco in 2022.
As part of that agreement, Vodafone’s stake in Vantage Towers was to be consolidated into a joint venture created with a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and KKR.
At the time, the goal was for Vodafone and the consortium to achieve a 50:50 ownership split by June 2024.
Just one month late, this deal means that ownership of Oak Holdings owns 89.3% of Vantage Towers, and Vodafone’s effective ownership is now 44.7%.
The objective of separating the tower business from Vodafone’s core business in this manner was to retain control over an asset deemed of strategic importance to the role out of 5G, while simultaneously monetising it and reducing debt.
The €1.3 billion Vodafone will receive from the sale of this equity stake takes the total net proceeds to Vodafone from the sell down in Vantage Towers to €6.6 billion.
Proceeds from the sale, which occurred at €32 per share, the same price as the initial deal, will be used for deleveraging and will reduce Net Debt/Adjusted EBITDAaL by 0.1x.
Vodafone has been working towards a target of operating in the lower half of its 2.25x - 2.75x leverage range.
