Vodafone Group PLC (LON:VOD), Telecom Italia Group, and INWIT today completed the merger of Vodafone Italy’s towers into INWIT.
INWIT is now Italy’s largest tower operator and will focus on maximising tower utilisation whilst also supporting the deployment of TIM and Vodafone Italy’s respective 5G networks.
The merger will be effective as of 31 March 2020, as will TIM and Vodafone’s service contracts and active 5G sharing agreements.
Following the merger, TIM and Vodafone will each retain a 37.5% stake in INWIT. Vodafone and TIM intend to retain joint control, but over time will consider jointly reducing their respective ownership levels to a minimum of 25.0%.
On 31 March, Vodafone Group will receive 360,200,000 ordinary INWIT shares and cash proceeds of €2,140 million, which will be used to reduce net debt.
