CK Hutchison to Use Tower Sale Proceeds for Share Buyback
- Hong Kong group selling Europe mast assets for $11.8 billion
- Spain’s Cellnex to make initial payment of $10 billion in cash
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Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd., which just agreed to sell its Europe tower assets to Spain’s Cellnex Telecom SA for 10 billion euros ($11.8 billion), said it plans to use part of the proceeds to buy back shares that have slumped 28% this year.
The deal is estimated to generate about HK$60 billion ($7.7 billion) in gains for CK Hutchison’s shareholders, the company founded by billionaire Li Ka-shing said in a filing Thursday. Cellnex will make an initial payment of 8.6 billion euros in cash and the rest in new shares that would give CK Hutchison a 5% stake in the Spanish mast operator.