American Tower, Cellnex mull offer for stake in Vodafone’s Vantage Towers – Bloomberg News

(Reuters) – American Tower Corp and Spain’s Cellnex Telecom SA are mulling entering the race for a stake in telecom giant Vodafone Group Plc’s $13 billion tower unit Vantage Towers, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Some of the interested parties may decide to form consortiums and other suitors could also emerge, the report said, adding Vodafone expects bids to be made as soon as next week and may announce a new partner for Vantage next month.

Vodafone, which listed Vantage Towers AG in Frankfurt in March 2021 and still owns 81% of the business, has been reluctant to engage in talks with financial investors as it seeks to clinch an industry merger for the company, Reuters had reported in March.

Telecom towers have become the target of several big deals as Cellnex and U.S.-based American Tower race to expand in Europe for the roll-out of next-generation 5G technology.

Vodafone declined to comment, while Vantage Towers, American Tower and Cellnex did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Vantage operates 83,000 towers across 10 countries in Europe and Germany is its largest market.

(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)