Inwit: Cellnex/F2i consortium to present offer on 14 March
Cellnex [BME:CLNX], the Spanish telecom infrastructures group controlled by Abertis is expected to present its offer for a 45% stake in Telecom Italia tower unit Inwit on Monday 14 March, Expansion reported citing a newswire. If it is able to complete the transaction, Cellnex will become Italy’s dominant operator, adding Inwit’s 11,500 towers to the 7,800 towers it already controls in that country, the Spanish-language paper noted.
Cellnex and F2i, the Italian fund, are working on a binding offer for 45% of Inwit. Telecom Italia controls 60% of Inwit and the other 40% is listed in the Italian stock market. Telecom Italia intends to sell a 45% stake, which would trigger a compulsory full takeover bid whereby the buyer would control 85% while Telecom Italia retains 15%, Expansion said.
According to Italian press reports cited in the Expansion report, the binding offer presented in December by the Cellnex / F2i consortium valued 45% of Inwit at around EUR 1.26bn.
This news service earlier today (10 March) reported that the Italian press said Cellnex and F2i may be considering to withdraw their bid for Inwit because the seller appears to favour rival bid by Ei Towers [BIT:EIT], the Italian transmission tower group controlled by Mediaset [BIT:MS].
According to Expansion Ei Towers is offering EUR 5 per share but only for 29.9% of Inwit to avoid having to make a full takeover bid.
A third suitor, American Tower, is offering c. EUR 4 per share, the report said.