terryjohnson16
06-26-2007, 05:50 PM
FT.com / Mergermarket - T-Mobile retains UBS and Bank of America to sell US tower operations, bankers say (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/b185f66c-1ff4-11dc-9eb1-000b5df10621.html)
By Sarah Cohen in New York
Published: June 21 2007 14:11 | Last updated: June 21 2007 14:11
T-Mobile USA, the US subsidiary of Germany’s wireless telecom operator T-Mobile, has retained UBS and Bank of America to sell its tower unit, said two sector bankers. T-Mobile is the wireless arm of Deutsche Telekom.
The bankers valued the unit at roughly USD 1.5bn.
A Deutsche Telekom spokesperson declined to comment on the retention of investment banks, but said the move to sell what in the US amounts to roughly 5,500 towers “comes as no surprise” because CEO Rene Obermann detailed assets up for possible divestiture in March, and named US and German tower businesses, the spokesperson recounted. Deutsche Telekom’s German tower unit is called Deutsche Funkturm GmbH, and, unlike T-Mobile USA’s towers, includes assets related to television broadcast, the spokesperson explained.
Spokespeople for UBS and Bank of America declined comment.
Both bankers said they understood T-Mobile, at this time, to be early in the divestiture process, having chosen bankers and “making sure information is tied together.” According to one banker, T-Mobile has not yet sent out books. He said tower divestitures, because they relate to the function of wireless networks, are complex, and the banker speculated that the auction may not get under way until after the summer.
Some potential buyers of T-Mobile’s towers are American Tower in Massachusetts, Crown Castle in Texas, and SBA Communications and Global Tower Partners in Florida, said the second banker. In previous intelligence from this news service, executives at small tower concerns said private equity firms also have designs for tower businesses due to their generous cash flow. The Blackstone Group in New York owns the vast majority of Global Towers.
A wireless tower operator leases space to telecom carriers to hang their antennas, thereby extending their networks. Some wireless carriers, such as T-Mobile and AT&T, own arsenals of several thousand towers, but these operations lay outside of their main businesses.
In February, a source close to T-Mobile told mergermarket that the wireless carrier continually evaluates the possibility of divesting its towers but expects to hold onto them until the integration of spectrum purchased in Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auctions. The FCC plans to hold a 700MHz auction sometime between the end of August and January 2008.
By Sarah Cohen in New York
Published: June 21 2007 14:11 | Last updated: June 21 2007 14:11
T-Mobile USA, the US subsidiary of Germany’s wireless telecom operator T-Mobile, has retained UBS and Bank of America to sell its tower unit, said two sector bankers. T-Mobile is the wireless arm of Deutsche Telekom.
The bankers valued the unit at roughly USD 1.5bn.
A Deutsche Telekom spokesperson declined to comment on the retention of investment banks, but said the move to sell what in the US amounts to roughly 5,500 towers “comes as no surprise” because CEO Rene Obermann detailed assets up for possible divestiture in March, and named US and German tower businesses, the spokesperson recounted. Deutsche Telekom’s German tower unit is called Deutsche Funkturm GmbH, and, unlike T-Mobile USA’s towers, includes assets related to television broadcast, the spokesperson explained.
Spokespeople for UBS and Bank of America declined comment.
Both bankers said they understood T-Mobile, at this time, to be early in the divestiture process, having chosen bankers and “making sure information is tied together.” According to one banker, T-Mobile has not yet sent out books. He said tower divestitures, because they relate to the function of wireless networks, are complex, and the banker speculated that the auction may not get under way until after the summer.
Some potential buyers of T-Mobile’s towers are American Tower in Massachusetts, Crown Castle in Texas, and SBA Communications and Global Tower Partners in Florida, said the second banker. In previous intelligence from this news service, executives at small tower concerns said private equity firms also have designs for tower businesses due to their generous cash flow. The Blackstone Group in New York owns the vast majority of Global Towers.
A wireless tower operator leases space to telecom carriers to hang their antennas, thereby extending their networks. Some wireless carriers, such as T-Mobile and AT&T, own arsenals of several thousand towers, but these operations lay outside of their main businesses.
In February, a source close to T-Mobile told mergermarket that the wireless carrier continually evaluates the possibility of divesting its towers but expects to hold onto them until the integration of spectrum purchased in Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auctions. The FCC plans to hold a 700MHz auction sometime between the end of August and January 2008.