Abertis Telecom Terrestre, the telecommunications subsidiary of Abertis, and the mobile phone Italian operator WIND have closed the transfer of the portfolio of 7,377 telecommunications towers.

As a result of the agreement reached on 2nd March. The transaction entails the acquisition of 90% of Galata Company, owner of the Italian operator's mobile phone towers, for €693 million (US$754.4 million). The remaining 10% of the shares will remain in the hands of WIND.

This is a package of mobile telephone towers of high quality and profitability as a result of their strategic nature in deploying broadband services using 4G technology.

The acquired company is expected to generate around €200 million in revenue in the first full year of operations. These figures represent a major leap of more than 40% in Cellnex Telecom's revenue, while the mobile phone infrastructures business will raise its share up to close to 50% of total revenue. Almost 35% of Cellnex Telecom revenue will be generated outside Spain.

Cellnex Telecom has financed the transaction by means of available credit lines and new debt, therefore no additional financial resources will be required from Abertis.

The agreement includes a tower services agreement for these sites with WIND for period of 15 years, renewable for an additional period of 15 more years, and foresees the deployment of additional sites that will allow the company to accelerate the offer of new broadband services in mobility.

The agreement will transform Abertis Telecom Terrestre, making it the largest European operator of telecommunications infrastructure for mobile telephony and audiovisual broadcasting. Following this acquisition, the Abertis subsidiary will have a portfolio of more than 15,000 towers, including 7,800 mobile telephone towers in Italy and 4,600 mobile telephone towers and 3,400 towers allocated for audiovisual broadcasting in Spain.

In October 2014, Abertis announced that, within the framework of its 2015-2017 strategic plan, it is studying the admission to trading of its terrestrial telecommunications subsidiary in the first half of 2015, subject to market conditions. During the Abertis Shareholders' General Meeting, held last 24th March, the new name of the company from 1st April was published: Cellnex Telecom, S.A.