The Latest: Telefonica is to sell its Telxius towers division to American Towers Corporation (ATC) for EUR7.7bn (USD9.4bn). The deal comprises around 31,000 sites across Spain, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru. Following the sale, ATC will become Telefonica’s leading passive infrastructure supplier in Europe and Latin America. Implications: This deal is a positive and welcome development for the European mobile towers market. We have long held the view that more independent towercos were needed in Europe to counterbalance the aggressive expansion of Cellnex. Over the past few years, the Spain-based towerco has significantly increased its tower portfolio across Europe, a strategy that has recently culminated in the purchase of CK Hutchison’s sites in six markets. Vodafone’s Vantage Towers has emerged as a credible contender over the past year but, being tied to the pan-European operator, it does not represent an alternative fully independent player to Cellnex.
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