There are 46 towercos in the European market. Whilst a handful of towercos (American Tower, Cellnex, INWIT and RaiWay) are publically listed and a number of towercos (including Deutsche Funkturm and Global Tower) remain owned by their MNO parent company, the vast majority of towercos sit in the hands of private investors. From pension fund managers to the World Bank, to infrastructure investors and private equity firms, TowerXchange examines organisations currently deploying capital, or with an appetite to deploy capital, in European towers.
Active investors in European towers
3i: A mid-market infrastructure investor, 3i has recently upped their investment in ambitious UK towerco Wireless Infrastructure Group. They also bid unsuccessfully for French towerco FPS in 2016.
ABP Investments: Dutch pension fund ABP acquired 75% of Open Tower Company in 2017.
ADM Capital: Asian fund manager ADM Capital is an investor in Russian Towers.
Alinda Capital Partners: Infrastructure investor Alinda owns Polish broadcast and telecoms towerco Emitel.
AMP Capital: AMP is a global investment manager headquartered in Australia. They own Irish towerco, Towercom, and Spanish broadcast and telecoms towerco, Axion. AMP has also been linked to Finnish towerco, Digita.
APG Asset Management: Dutch Asset Manager APG forms part of the consortium which owns French broadcast towerco, TDF. They are rumoured to be interested in Finnish towerco Digita.
Arcus Infrastructure Partners: Arcus forms part of the consortium, led by Brookfield, which owns French towerco TDF. In 2016, Arcus sold UK-based towerco, Shere Group, to Cellnex for €393mn. Most recently, Arcus was linked to a consortium bidding (unsuccessfully) for UK towerco Arqiva at the end of 2017.
Brookfield Asset Management: Leading infrastructure investor Brookfield owns 50% of French broadcast and telecoms towerco TDF. Often linked to new European tower opportunities, including the recent attempted sale of Arqiva, Brookfield also came close to buying Indian Reliance Communications in late 2017.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board: Currently the largest shareholder in the UK’s biggest towerco, Arqiva, with a 48% stake, CPPIB manages the pensions of over 20 million Canadians. Their telecoms infrastructure portfolio also includes 100% ownership of Broadcast Australia. CPPIB were also involved in KKR’s unsuccessful bid for Indus towers in late 2017.
Deutsche Telekom Investment Fund: DTIF invested alongside Swiss Life in Cellnex’s acquisition of the Sunrise Communications towers in Switzerland in 2017.
Digital Bridge: Digital Bridge invest in telecoms and communications infrastructure worldwide, with a strong focus on future network infrastructure. They currently own Andean Tower Partners, Mexican Tower Partners and Vertical Bridge, as well as assets in data centres and fibre, and recently made their first move into Europe, acquiring Finnish broadcast towerco, Digita.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development: The EBRD is owned by 66 countries from five continents. Founded in 1991, they have invested in countries across Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the MENA region, including investment in Russian Towers and in Turk Telekom’s rollout of mobile broadband infrastructure.
First State Investments: First State is an Australian asset manager with assets all over the world, including Finnish broadcast towerco Digita, although this asset is believed to be for sale as we go to print.
Horizon Equity Partners:South African Horizon Equity Partners form part of a consortium which owns 75% of Altice’s Towers of Portugal, created in 2018.
International Finance Corporation: The IFC is a sister organisation to the World Bank and is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector in developing countries. The IFC has invested in Russian Towers, as well as in telecoms infrastructure in emerging markets outside of Europe such as Myanmar and the Middle East.
IFM Investors: Australian fund manager IFM investors has a portfolio of several infrastructure assets in Europe, North America and Australia, including a 14.8% stake in UK towerco Arqiva.
InfraVia Capital Partners: Infrastructure investors InfraVia own ambitious Irish towerco Cignal. They’ve also just acquired Altice’s datacentre assets and have been rumoured to be bidding on Finnish towerco Digita.
KKR: Investment firm KKR manages multiple asset classes including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit and, through its strategic partners, hedge funds. In Q117, they entered the European tower sector through the acquisition of 40% of Telefonica’s infrastructure arm, Telxius, for €1,275bn. KKR were also close to closing a deal in India with Bharti Infratel for Indus towers for $5bn in Q417, although this deal fell through.
Macquarie: Macquarie has an extensive tower portfolio around the world. In Europe alone, Macquarie owns Towercom AS in Slovakia and Ceské Radiokomunikace in the Czech Republic and is a shareholder in Russian Towers, as well as owning 25% of UK broadcast and telecoms towerco Arqiva (albeit an asset which they attempted to exit in Q417).
Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners: Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners form part of a consortium (with Horizon Equity Partners) which owns 75% of Altice’s towerco Towers of Portugal.
Peppertree Capital Management, Inc: A private equity firm focused on making investments in growing communication infrastructure companies, Peppertree has more than $1B under management and has made more than 75 investments in communication infrastructure companies in 10 countries. In addition to sponsoring tower, DAS, data center and communication rooftop developers, fiber network operators and spectrum auction participants, Peppertree seeks investments in real estate related to its areas of focus, non-telecom infrastructure projects and other businesses and assets with contractually recurring revenue.
PGGM: Dutch pension fund PGGM created a joint venture, ‘ATC Europe’ with American Tower in 2016, which has thus far acquired FPS Towers in France.
PPF Group: PPF is a Czech investment fund which owns CETIN, a Czech infrastructure company carved out of O2 in the country, with 5,200 macro towers in the Czech Republic, as well as several thousand km of fibre. PPF is also on the brink of acquiring Telenor’s CEE opco portfolio, with assets in Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, and we may well see them carve out the infrastructure into a separate business along the same lines as CETIN.
PSP Investments: Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) is a Canadian investment manager which forms part of the consortium owning French towerco TDF. In 2017, PSP also formed part of a consortium with Digital Bridge and TIAA Investments to acquire Vantage Data Centers.
Swiss Life: Swiss Life invested alongside Deutsche Telekom Investment Fund in Cellnex’s acquisition of the Sunrise Communications towers in Switzerland in 2017.
UFG Asset Management: UFG hold a diverse Russian portfolio, including the largest stake in Russian Towers, Russia’s longest established towerco.
Investors previously with capital at work in European towers
An honourable mention goes to funds who have recently realised their European communications assets.
Antin Infrastructure Partners: Antin is a private equity firm focussed on infrastructure investments. Antin sold French towerco FPS to American Tower in 2016 and Spanish towerco Axion to AMP Capital in 2017.
Communications Infrastructure Fund: Dutch investment fund with long-term investments in telecommunication infrastructure including antenna sites, cable and optical fibre infrastructure, data centres and related assets. The fund owned 75% of Open Tower Company with NOVEC until late 2017.
CVC Capital Partners: CVC is a private equity firm which invested in Abertis (subsequently carving out Cellnex via IPO in 2015) from 2010 to 2015 and has since been linked to several other telecoms infrastructure sales in Europe.
Wood Creek Capital Management: Wood Creek invested in UK based towerco Wireless Infrastructure Group until late 2017, when their stake was bought out by 3i.
Figure one: Investors in Europe’s leading towercos
Investors linked to European towers
With several deals of scale coming to market over the last 24 months, as well as smaller portfolios on the market who else has been linked to European tower deals?
4M Investments: US investor 4M Investments invests across a multitude of industries and countries. 4M’s Principal, Ted Miller, has a well-recognised pedigree as founder of Crown Castle International.
Allianz: Germany’s Allianz, was part of last year’s winning consortium in the £11bn battle for National Grid’s gas distribution network, adding to their global infrastructure portfolio which includes further assets in the UK. They’ve been linked to towers including Telxius and Arqiva over the last couple of years.
Ardian: Ardian is an independent private investment house with a focus on Europe, North America and Asia. Ardian came close to acquiring the 40% stake in Telxius which came to market in 2017, but was pipped to the post by KKR.
Borealis infrastructure: Canadian Borealis Infrastructure has invested heavily in UK infrastructure, acquiring London City Airport and a stake in Thames Water over the last two years at a cost of around £3bn in total. They were linked to the Arqiva sale in late 2017.
Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings: CKI is a Hong Kong-listed holding company controlled by Asia’s richest man Li Ka-shing. Among many global assets, in the United Kingdom CKI has a comprehensive portfolio of investments including UK Power Networks, one of the United Kingdom’s largest power distributors supplying electricity to London, South East England and the East of England. They are believed to be interested in tower infrastructure, including taking an interest in Arqiva when it came up for sale.
EQT: EQT is a Swedish investor with a large global portfolio and a strong background in TMT investment. They were linked with the Digita sale process in Finland.
GIC: GIC is a global investment firm and the manager of Singapore’s foreign reserves. GIC has been linked to several telecoms infrastructure deals over the last few months, including Arqiva, Telxius and Indus Towers in India. The company is an investor in MEA towerco, IHS Towers.
Have we missed anyone? If you are an investor with an active interest in the European tower industry who would like to be included in our index, please contact Frances Rose, Head of Europe: frose@towerxchange.com
European towerco CXOs and their investors will be coming together on 17-18 April 2018 at the 3rd Annual TowerXchange Meetup Europe, being held at the Business Design Centre, London. Limited places now remain. For a list of attendees and for more information on registering, please click here.
