Phoenix Tower International buys Cellnex Irish towers for €971m

Phoenix Tower International (PTI) has bought Cellnex’s telecoms infrastructure business in Ireland for €971m, adding it to the towers it bought from Eir in 2020.

Cellnex currently manages around 1,900 sites here. It has been operating in Ireland since 2019, when it acquired tower operator Cignal and later adding assets from the 3 Ireland owner CK Hutchison when it bought its infrastructure portfolio in six European countries, including Ireland.

The deal is subject to regulatory approvals. Cellnex said it will use the proceeds of this deal to reduce its debt.

PTI is backed by private equity investors including Blackstone. It bought Eir’s tower infrastructure company for €300m four years ago.

Under the terms of that deal Eir retained ownership of the base stations, antennae and all telecom-related equipment, including fibre and the two companies entered a long-term agreement for the provision of hosting services over the infrastructure, as well as the construction of new sites.

Commenting on the new deal Cellnex CEO Marco Patuano said “the sale of our business in Ireland – at an appropriate valuation– is one further step within the company’s ‘Next Chapter’, in line with our strategy, to achieve the goal of consolidating, simplifying our corporate structure and focusing our efforts in the existing growth opportunities in the main markets in which we operate."

Dagan Kasavana, CEO of PTI said the acquisition demonstrates his firms commitment to Ireland.

"And we are eager to contribute to the development of robust and advanced telecommunications infrastructure that will benefit both the Irish people and our valued Mobile Network Operator partners.

Nomura is serving as exclusive financial advisor and Arthur Cox is serving as legal counsel to PTI. Barclays and Santander are serving as financial advisors and Matheson is serving as legal counsel to Cellnex.