Telstra will sell a 49% share in its Telstra InfraCo Towers business, which consists of approximately 8,200 towers across Australia, to a consortium comprised of the Future Fund, Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation and Sunsuper.
The transaction values Telstra InfraCo Towers at $5.9 billion, representing an FY21 pro forma EV/EBITDAaL multiple of 28x. Telstra expects net cash proceeds after transaction costs of $2.8 billion at completion and the Towers entity will have no debt. Completion is expected in the first quarter of FY22.
Telstra intends to return approximately 50 percent of net proceeds to shareholders in FY22.
Telstra CEO, Andrew Penn said today’s announcement was a significant T22 milestone and an acceleration of Telstra’s strategy to unlock value in these assets. Our T22 strategy is delivering on multiple fronts and I am proud of what we have achieved. Today’s announcement is a further endorsement of the strategy, as the establishment of our infrastructure assets as a separate business was designed to enable us to better realise the value of these assets, take advantage of potential monetisation opportunities and create additional value for shareholders and that is exactly what today’s announcement achieves,” said Mr Penn.
