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- NYSE:KKR, Global Infrastructure Partners and Stonepeak Partners have teamed up on a binding offer to take a controlling stake in the €20B towers unit of Deutsche Telekom (OTCQX:DTEGY), Bloomberg reports.
- They're competing (at minimum) with a consortium of Brookfield Asset Management (BAM) and Cellnex Telecom (OTC:CLNXF).
- But Vodafone's (VOD) Vantage Towers (OTCPK:VTWRF) could find a partner or jump in solo, as it's expressed interest in DT's towers, and Bloomberg previously noted DigitalBridge Group (DBRG) was evaluating the business.
- Cellnex already jointly owns towers with Deutsche Telekom in Switzerland and the Netherlands, Bloomberg reported. But Germany represents a market where Cellnex has yet to get a foothold.
- A move to take control of DT's towers would be the latest in a long series of transactions where struggling phone carriers have begun to shed infrastructure assets (often to private equity) in order to raise cash and save on heavy network investments.
- Deutsche Telekom (OTCQX:DTEGY) is up 1% Friday afternoon in U.S. trading.