KKR said to be frontrunner for Vodafone’s towers unit

Private equity firm KKR is reportedly seen as the party to beat as it competes with Cellnex Telecom in the final race for a stake in Vodafone’s towers unit, Vantage Towers.

Bloomberg cited people with knowledge of the matter as saying that KKR, which has teamed up with Global Infrastructure Partners, is the frontrunner as Vodafone evaluates the binding offers it received last week for a stake in the business.

It was understood that Cellnex is bidding together with Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC. Cellnex is looking to buy a majority stake that would give it operational control, one of the sources said.

At 1140 GMT, shares of Vantage Towers - which is listed in Frankfurt - were up 2.7% at €28.48.

Bloomberg said that while the KKR-led group aims to seal a deal as early as next week, the situation remains fluid. They reportedly want to avoid a repeat of their last-minute loss in July in the auction for a majority stake in Deutsche Telekom’s tower unit, which eventually went to Brookfield Asset Management and DigitalBridge Group.

Sources said Vodafone, which owns 82% of the towers unit, could aim to reach an agreement by the time of its half-year results on 15 November. The company continues to study the bids and hasn’t yet picked a winner.