Vodafone Group has sold another 10% stake in German cell tower company Vantage Towers for €1.3bn, as the UK-based telecommunications firm seeks to reduce its debt.
Vantage Towers operates in a number of European markets including in Ireland, in which it operates about 1,300 towers.
According to Vodafone, the sale is part of a deal announced in November when the company agreed to sell its share in Vantage Towers for €32 per share to KKR & Co and Global Infrastructure Partners.
Under the deal’s terms, Vodafone shifted its 81.7% holding in Vantage Towers into a joint venture with KKR and GIP, called Oak Holdings, and has been selling it down ever since.
The most recent sale brings Vodafone’s total proceeds from the deal to €6.6bn, the company said in a statement on Monday.
The sale means Vodafone now owns 50% of Oak Holdings, as originally envisioned by the consortium, the company said.
European telecom operators are looking for ways to generate money as they struggle to make a return on their capital investments. Many companies have sold stakes or their entire infrastructure operations to generate funds.
Vodafone’s chief executive Margherita Della Valle, who formally took the reins last year, has sold off underperforming markets and worked to scale back a sprawling empire that at one point stretched from the US to Africa.
Her turnaround plan has included selling off its Spanish and Italian businesses and is attempting a merger with CK Hutchison’s Three. The merger is currently undergoing a review from the UK competition authority.
In April, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority announced it had launched an in-depth investigation into the merger after the companies did not offer the regulator remedies to their concerns putting the £13bn (€15bn) deal in jeopardy.
Any potential merger of these two companies in the UK will not affect their operations in Ireland.
Three is the largest mobile telecoms provider in the Republic and employs more than 1,300 staff.