Australian broadband services provider TPG Telecom Ltd said it will sell its mobile tower and rooftop infrastructure assets to Canada’s OMERS Infrastructure Management Inc for A$950 million. The sale of the passive infrastructure assets, which include more than 1,200 sites and form nearly a fifth of TPG’s mobile network footprint, will deliver net cash proceeds of A$890 million, which will be used to repay bank debt. Passive infrastructure includes sites, buildings, towers, masts and poles, and excludes digital capabilities in active telecoms networks. The sale is the latest in a flurry of telecom sector deals in Australia, where firms are increasingly reviewing options for their aging infrastructure to reduce debt and try to capitalize on growth in 5G.
The country’s largest telecom firm Telstra last year agreed to sell a 49 per cent stake in its mobile tower business for A$2.8 billion. Uniti Group last month also agreed to a A$3.6 billion takeover. Toronto-based OMERS had C$32 billion ($24.8 billion) in assets under management and investments in 12 countries at the end of last year. The deal marks OMERS’ first fully owned Australian investment and its first foray into digital infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region. It has already invested in German wholesale fibre company Deutsche Glasfaser and France’s XP Fibre.