The Competition Authority (AdC) has given the “green light” to buy the Portuguese subsidiary of Spanish telecom operator Cellnex from PT Portugal, according to a published notice.
The focus process, which was notified at the end of December, merits the Competition Commission’s decision not to oppose the regulator, taken on Tuesday by the regulator’s board, “since it is not likely to create significant obstacles” to effective competition in defining markets.
The operation, which spans the cooperation between Cellnex and Meo Portugal that began in 2020, consists of the purchase of a set of assets to be part of NewCo that are compatible with the passive infrastructure for hosting mobile network equipment (macro sites), currently owned by Meo, as well as Corresponding rights and all related contracts and basic agreements.
“Assets of aptitude tests will be the subject of a ‘truncation’ [reorganização societária, na qual a empresa cria uma nova subsidiária] to NewCo, over which CLNX Portugal will have exclusive control,” the notice reads.
The Cellnex Group is an independent European operator of telecommunications infrastructure that supports wireless communication equipment. In Portugal, Cellnex — which is primarily devoted to the activity of installing and managing passive infrastructures to support wireless communications networks — has more than 5,000 macro sites, through OMTEL and ON Tower, according to the notice.
This focus comes after, in August 2021, AdC also adopted a decision not to oppose Cellnex Portugal’s purchase of 700 trees from Altice, for €209 million, which is Cellnex’s fifth deal in Portugal since September 2021. 2018, which involves a total investment of more From 2,000 million euros, according to a statement issued by the company at the time.
In April 2020, Cellnex announced the purchase by NOS of the entire share capital of NOS Towering, in an agreement with an initial payment of 375 million euros, but could total up to 550 million euros within six years.
In 2020, the losses of Selinex increased to 133 million euros, compared to 9 million a year earlier, due to “devaluation” and financial costs associated with acquisitions, while revenues amounted to 1608 million euros, an increase of 55% compared to 2019.
At the time of the results’ release, in February 2021, Cellnex CEO Tobias Martinez said 2020 was an “exceptional year in Cellnex’s history” and announced new growth operations in Portugal, Austria, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
“Writer. Analyst. Avid travel maven. Devoted twitter guru. Unapologetic pop culture expert. General zombie enthusiast.”
