telecommunications
Vantage Towers to be delisted
Directional radio antennas, television antennas and mobile phone masts are installed on an old water tower in Dresden. photo
© Robert Michael/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa/Symbolbild
The shares of the ex-Vodafone subsidiary were traded on the stock exchange for a little over two years. Now that should be the end of it. Whether the withdrawal succeeds, however, also depends on billionaire Paul Singer.
The shares of the ex-Vodafone subsidiary Vantage Towers are to disappear from the market after just a little more than two years on the stock exchange. The company’s board of directors has signed a contract with the new owner Oak Holdings to withdraw from the stock exchange, the company, which is currently still listed on the MDax, announced on the night in Düsseldorf.
The remaining shareholders would therefore be offered EUR 32 per share. Experts had expected this step after Oak Holdings announced the takeover of Vantage Towers in November last year.
Billionaire Paul Singer has a stake of almost six percent
In addition to Vodafone itself, Oak Holdings is backed by the financial investors Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and KKR. The British group only floated Vantage Towers in March 2021 at EUR 24 per unit, but then still held almost 82 percent of the shares. Vodafone sold this stake to the consortium in the fall of last year for EUR 32. With this step, the British brought money into the house and were also able to take the daughter off the balance sheet. Whether the withdrawal from the stock market succeeds depends on how billionaire Paul Singer behaves. In January, he took a nearly six percent stake in Vantage Towers.
Singer is known for wanting to make an extra profit in planned complete takeovers. Should Oak Holdings increase its stake to more than 90 percent in the course of the delisting offer, a squeeze-out procedure can be initiated. Most recently, the Vantage Towers share price was EUR 33.42, slightly above the price Oak Holdings wants to pay. The company is currently valued at almost 17 billion euros.