Cellnex sells French data centre unit for €391m

European telecommunications tower and infrastructure operator Cellnex is selling 99.99 per cent of its shares in Towerink France to Vauban Infra Fibre (VIF) in a deal worth €391 million.

Towerlink France has been the main vehicle for Cellnex’s urban data centre operations in France, supporting telecommunications infrastructure and digital services.

VIF is a French digtial infrastructure specialist backed by funds from Vauban Infrastructure Partners, an entity of Crédit Agricole Assurances, and Raffles, a subsidiary of GIC, with a strong presence in several locations in France, many of which are already operational.

Cellnex said the divestment aligns with its strategic roadmap and will allow the Group to continue focusing on its core areas of activity.

Marco Patuano, chief executive of Cellnex said: “We remain committed to operational excellence and disciplined capital allocation, always with the objective of delivering sustainable growth and long-term value for our shareholders.

Commenting on the sale, Steve Ledoux, chief executive of VIF said the deal will help accelerate its development in the data centre market by implementing attractive synergies with other French data centres and digital assets of the portfolio.

“We look forward to supporting the company in deploying a high-quality portfolio of assets throughout France,” he continued.

The transaction will be settled entirely in cash and is subject to the information and consultation process with employee representative bodies in France, in accordance with applicable regulations.

The move comes after Global asset manager Macquarie Asset Management announced the sale of Aligned Data Centers (Aligned) to a consortium of investors earlier this week.

The deal has an enterprise value of approximately $40 billion, making it the largest ever in the global data centre sector, the asset manager said on Thursday.

Aligned, based in Dallas, Texas, provides what it describes as “sustainable and adaptable” data centre solutions supporting hyperscale and enterprise customers across North and South America.