Telia Company announced an agreement to sell a portion of its tower business in Norway and Finland to Brookfield and Alecta, a transaction that was completed on December 29, 2021.
The tower assets are placed in Telia Towers AB which is 51 percent owned by Telia Company with the remaining 49 percent owned by Brookfield and Alecta. The strategic partnership is now expanded to include Telia Company’s towers in Sweden.
Once the transaction closes Telia Company expects to receive SEK 5,500 million for the 49 percent stake in its Swedish tower business. Telia Company is currently operating in the lower part of its net debt / adjusted EBITDA target range of 2.0-2.5x. With this low leverage foreseen to be sustained, and in line with its commitment to providing an attractive shareholder remuneration, the Board intends to propose that the net proceeds from the sale are transferred to the shareholders by means of either share buy-backs or an extraordinary dividend. If approved, further details on the return mechanism will be provided in due course. In connection with closing of the transaction, Telia Company will enter into an anchor tenant agreement with Telia Towers in Sweden.
Allison Kirkby, Telia Company President and CEO
Telia has a clear strategy to develop and crystalize its digital infrastructure by joining forces with strategic partners that have a similar long-term view of the value of these assets, and bring unique operating and commercial expertise to Telia. We are therefore delighted to expand our partnership with Brookfield and Alecta to also include our towers in Sweden.
