Private Equity Firms Are Flocking To Vodafone's Tower Unit, Valued In The Billions

Private equity firms like KKR & Co Inc (NYSE:KKR) and Global Infrastructure Partners competed for a stake in Vodafone Group Plc's (NASDAQ:VOD) wireless towers unit, Bloomberg reports.
Swedish investment firm EQT AB also explored a potential investment in Frankfurt-listed Vantage Towers AG (OTC:VTAGY) which is worth €13.4 billion ($13.4 billion) at present.
Vodafone has invited suitors to participate in an auction process.
Vodafone currently holds around 82% of Vantage.
In August, Vodafone forged an agreement with Hungarian 4iG and state-run Corvinus Zrt to divest its Hungarian business for 715 billion forints ($1.8 billion) in cash.
In July, Vodafone agreed to sell its operations in Ghana to Telecel Group for undisclosed terms.
Europe's phone carriers sold off infrastructure assets to raise money for costly fiber-optic rollouts and wireless network upgrades and to cut their large debt piles.
In July, Deutsche Telekom AG (OTC:DTEGY) agreed to sell a majority stake in its towers unit to Brookfield Asset Management Inc (NYSE:BAM) and DigitalBridge Group, Inc (NYSE: DBRG) in a deal valuing the business at €17.5 billion.
Price Action: VOD shares traded higher by 0.68% at $12.55 on the last check Thursday.