View: Vodafone mast carve-out sharpens growth challenge

LONDON: Nick Read may be the beneficiary of some lucky timing. The Vodafone CEO on Wednesday confirmed his plan to list the UK mobile phone company’s Vantage Towers unit in Frankfurt next month. The spinoff should unlock value and reduce debt, but also gives Read one less place to hide from frustrated investors. Fortunately, the group’s core European operations may be turning the corner just in time.

Read deserves credit for pushing through the Vantage listing, which taps into red-hot demand from investors for telecommunication infrastructure and its reliable, inflation-linked cash flows. The spinoff allows Vantage to play an active role in consolidation in the industry, which has so far been led by rival Cellnex Telecom.