Infrastructure

Creating Australia’s largest standalone wireless tower company

Macquarie Capital advised Telstra on the landmark sale of a 49 per cent stake in its towers business, demonstrating the growing demand among investors for digital infrastructure and improved connectivity Australia-wide

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Sector Infrastructure
Sub-sector Telecommunications
Location Australia

Opportunity

Telstra owned Australia’s largest physical mobile tower infrastructure provider with approximately 8,000 towers.

Utilising deep sector experience, Macquarie worked with Telstra to identify a significant opportunity to unlock the value in their InfraCo Towers assets.

Approach

Macquarie Capital acted as financial adviser to Telstra on the sale of a 49 per cent interest in Telstra InfraCo Towers to a consortium comprising the Future Fund, Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation and  Sunsuper Superannuation Fund (since merged into the Australian Retirement Trust) and managed by HRL Morrison & Co Ltd.

The transaction was executed in a rapid timeframe, despite significant COVID-19 market-related impacts. Macquarie achieved long-term tower access arrangements for Telstra that protects the strategic differentiation of its market-leading mobile network while balancing investor needs to deliver a strong valuation to Telstra for the monetisation.

Outcome

The new Amplitel business achieved an enterprise valuation of $A5.9 billion, representing 28x FY21 EBITDAaL1, at the top end of market expectations. Telstra retained governance controls and introduced capital and support from Australia’s largest sovereign funds.

This was a significant outcome, demonstrating Macquarie’s ability to work with its clients to monetise asset portfolios and to attract high quality private capital investors while maintaining corporate client’s critical access, and strategic control and desire for accounting consolidation.

Amplitel provides world-class infrastructure with an expansive towers network that underpins connectivity in Australia for Telstra, other carriers, government, and public and private organisations. With the funding support of its new investors, the Amplitel network can continue to grow to support connectivity for its customers and the community. This includes putting $A75 million from the proceeds of the part sale of the towers business towards boosting regional network coverage in Australia.

8,000+

physical towers, mast, large pole and antenna mount structures

$A75 million

net proceeds committed to improve network coverage in regional Australia

$A2.8 billion

expected net cash proceeds at completion

$A5.9 billion

enterprise value of Amplitel

1. EBITDAaL defined as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation and after leases.

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