Allens has advised TPG Telecom (TPG) on the $950 million sale of 100 per cent of its passive mobile tower and rooftop infrastructure assets to OMERS Infrastructure Management (OMERS).
Under the transaction, OMERS will acquire 1,237 tower assets including 428 towers and 809 rooftop sites, representing approximately 21 per cent of TPG Telecom’s total mobile network footprint.
‘We are delighted to have advised TPG on this very significant transaction. We have worked with TPG Telecom and the team for many years on its tower arrangements, and this sale will result in TPG being able to reduce its financial leverage at the same time as partnering with a new, high calibre and long-term infrastructure operator in OMERS. The sale reflects the continuing appetite for private capital to invest into digital infrastructure assets in the Australian market,’ said co-lead Partner Gavin Smith.
‘It was a pleasure to work closely with the TPG Telecom team and its other advisers on another strategic transaction. The sale of telecommunications tower portfolios has been one of the more active, and contested, asset sale processes across the market over the past 12 months, and has presented an opportunity for vendors, like TPG, to unlock value,’ said co-lead Partner Julian Donnan.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of FY22, subject to customary conditions precedent including Foreign Investment Review Board approval.
The deal is the latest in a sequence of telecommunications tower transactions in the Australian market over the last 18 months. Allens has played a lead role in every transaction. Most recently Allens advised AustralianSuper and ATN on the acquisition of Axicom, AustralianSuper on its acquisition of a 70 per cent stake in ATN, and the Morrison & Co managed consortium comprising Future Fund, Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation and Sunsuper on the acquisition of a 49 per cent interest in Ampitel, the Telstra telecommunications towers business.
