Renta 4 | VMEDO2 UK is selling a stake in Cornerstone Telecommunications. VMEDO2 UK, Telefónica’s 50:50 JV with Liberty Global in the country, has agreed to sell an 8.33% stake in mobile towers joint venture Cornerstone Telecommunications to UK-based asset manager Equitix.
VMEDO2 will receive at closing approximately £186 million in cash (approximately €221 million), equivalent to a multiple of 21x adjusted EBITDA 2024 R4e and will retain a 25.01% stake in Cornerstone at closing. Vantage towers, a subsidiary of Vodafone, will hold the remaining 50%. Telefónica will thus receive around £93 million (€110 milln). Cornerstone is the company that manages the largest number of towers in the UK with some 20,000 sites and serves its two main customers, VMEDO2 and Vodafone (50%) and around 60% of mobile customers in the country. With this sale, Cornerstone’s shareholding is as follows: Vodafone 50%, Telefónica 25%, Fondo Infraestructuras GLIL 16.67% and Equitix 8.33%.
Assessment: Positive news. VMEDO2 makes a second sale in Cornerstone, after the sale of 16.67% in October 2023. We value favourably this new transaction, which is compatible with Telefónica’s strategy of monetising non-strategic assets. Moreover, Telefónica is selling this stake at a high multiple, as it did with Telxius, which brought together almost all the group’s mobile tower assets, in 2021. P.O. 4.60 eur/share HOLD.
