Phoenix Tower International reached a definitive agreement to acquire 3,800 telecom sites from Chilean operator WOM for US$930 million, to make it the largest tower company in Chile.
In a statement, the company detailed it will buy 2,334 tower sites and 1,466 additional sites by 2024. After the transaction, Phoenix claimed it will be the largest tower company in Chile. Its total portfolio will encompass over 22,000 towers in 19 countries. The deal is expected to close in Q3 this year subject to closing conditions.
The purchase will be part funded by a financing facility led by Scotiabank and supplemented by Phoenix Tower's additional finance providers. Equity for the transaction was provided by various funds from the investment firm Blackstone.
Phoneix Tower CEO Dagan Kasavana said: “PTI is excited to enter the wireless infrastructure market in Chile. We have strong relationships with all four mobile network operators in the country, each of which will be deploying 5G networks in the near term. We are proud of our partnership with WOM and the continued expansion of the relationship that this transaction represents.”
WOM CEO Sebastian Precht added the deal brings “financial resources to strengthen our position in the region”. The operator is following other operators globally in selling off tower assets to fund 5G deployment, after launching commercial 5G services this year. The operator has a market share of 20% with a subscriber base of seven million.
