EQT Infrastructure and PSP Investments continue to pursue telecom ground lease aggregator Radius Global Infrastructure, said two sources familiar with the matter. 

Pennsylvania-based Radius is expected to wrap up months-long sale talks by the end of February, the sources added. The listed group is scheduled to report the fourth quarter and full year 2022 financial results on 28 February and hold a conference call the next morning. 

Last May, Bloomberg News and Infralogic reported that Radius was exploring a sale with Bloomberg later reporting that EQT was in talks to raise financing to bid for Radius. It could not be learned if EQT and PSP are working together. 

Bidders and Radius have had different views on valuation, pushing the talks into 2023, the two sources said. The company has a USD 1.2bn market cap and USD 982m in net debt. 

Radius acquires triple-net leases and real estate supportive of wireless infrastructure operators like cell towers, controlling roughly 6,200 sites and 8,200 leases across 21 countries. Over 60% of Radius’s revenue is generated in Europe, 20% in Latin America and the remainder in the US. The company’s latest annual report shows 71% of its tenant lease revenue is set to expire in 10 years or less. 

Shortly after the Radius process launched, a UK court in June ruled on three separate cases that led to considerable changes to the country’s Electronic Communications Code, impacting rights between landowners and telecom companies that install hardware on those properties. 

The ruling was perceived to have negatively impacted telecom rents under such circumstances and thereby affected the Radius Global process, said one of the sources. 

Over the course of 2022 potential bidders withdrew from the process, such as Global Infrastructure Partners, the sources said. A pension fund walked away from the sale in December. 

GIP went on to team up with KKR to acquire half of Vodafone’s 81.7% stake in Vantage Towers, which controls a European tower portfolio mostly concentrated in Germany but with some assets stretched across the continent. 

PSP and EQT declined to comment. Citi, Radius and GIP did not return messages seeking comment.