Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) has started marketing at least 50% of its stake in Cornerstone, the UK’s largest telecommunications tower company.
If VMO2 were to sell its entire holding, the transaction could generate more than £1.5 billion, based on an estimated total valuation for Cornerstone of roughly £3 billion.
The company has circulated sale materials to prospective bidders and appointed Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan to manage the process. Proceeds from any sale would be earmarked to help fund VMO2’s continued network investment and expansion.
Since the merged business launched in mid-2021, VMO2 has committed to investing £10 billion ($13.5 billion) over the next five years. That spending will cover upgrades to its hybrid fibre-coaxial network as it moves to full fibre, along with ongoing 5G deployment—both capital-intensive programmes.
Disposing of passive infrastructure assets like towers is a familiar strategy across the telecoms sector as operators seek to free up capital for network upgrades and other priorities.
Some carriers have fully divested their tower portfolios to reduce debt, while others have retained a partial interest to capture long-term value as networks densify and demand for neutral-host infrastructure grows.
Vodafone, for example, transferred its stake in Cornerstone to its Vantage Towers unit two years ago ahead of that business’s IPO.
(Image Credit: Virgin Media O2)
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