Telia announced the sale of 49 percent of its tower business in Finland and Norway to Brookfield and Alecta in an enterprise value of EUR 1,524 million.
Telia has approximately 25,000 towers and rooftop sites in the Nordics and the Baltics. Telia’s tower business is comprised of approximately 4,700 towers with a total revenue in 2020 of EUR 88 million and an EBITDA of EUR 56 million in Finland and Norway.
Telia Company will receive EUR 722 million for the 49 percent stake. The proceeds will be retained for deleveraging. Based on the Q1 2021 financial statements, and including the proceeds from the recently closed Telia Carrier transaction, this will result in a proforma net debt to EBITDA of around 2.1x.
Brookfield owns and operates a tower portfolio of 185,000 contracted sites across six markets, including India, France, the UK and New Zealand. In addition, Brookfield operates a portfolio of 20,000 km of fiber and over 50 data centers.
The transaction is expected take place in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Telia will enter into an anchor tenant agreement with Telia Towers in Finland and Norway, based on today’s price levels, for an initial period of 8 years, extended automatically with two extension terms of 5 years each.
Telia Company has been advised by Goldman Sachs, Roschier, Kvale, EY and Altman Solon.
