To finally close the transaction with CK Hutchison in the UK, in accordance with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA’s) regulatory approval, Cellnex Telecom has agreed on the disposal of approximately 1,100 sites with Wireless Infrastructure Group (WIG).
Cellnex expects this transaction with the UK telecommunications infrastructure operator (WIG) to be completed by the end of this year.
“The divestiture agreement reached with WIG allows us to meet the conditions required by the UK Competition and Markets Authority and to proceed to complete the UK CK Hutchison transaction, the last of the deals announced in November 2020 to integrate the global CK Hutchison’s telecommunications sites in six European countries,” said Àlex Mestre, deputy CEO of Cellnex Telecom.
In retrospect, in May 2022, the CMA approved Cellnex Telecom’s acquisition of CK Hutchison’s 6,000 passive telecom infrastructure sites in the UK, subject to the divestment of around 1,000 of its own existing UK sites that overlap geographically with the CK Hutchison sites to be acquired.
A total of 24,600 sites in six European countries — Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and the United Kingdom — are part of this deal. The six transactions represent an investment of €10 billion, which also covers the deployment of up to 5,250 new sites (600 of which are in the UK) over the next eight years with an additional investment of €1.15 billion.
Following the divestment process, the completion of the CK Hutchison transaction in the UK is expected to take place in early to mid-November.