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GLIL, a partnership of British pension funds, has prevailed over
other investment firms in an auction that Virgin Media O2's
owners, Liberty Global and Telefonica, held for part of their
50% stake in the tower company, called Cornerstone, earlier this
year, the sources said on Friday.
If negotiations are concluded successfully, a deal for a
minority stake of less than 25% could be announced as early as
next week, two of the sources added.
The sources cautioned that there remained a chance that no deal
would be completed and asked not to be identified because the
matter is confidential.
Telefonica and Liberty Global have been working with advisers on
the sale of up to half of their combined 50% stake in
Cornerstone.
Vodafone owns the rest of the business through its
Frankfurt-based subsidiary Vantage Towers.
Spokespeople for Telefonica, Liberty Global, Virgin Media O2 and
GLIL declined to comment.
Cornerstone, established in 2012, is Britain's largest tower
company, managing more than 20,000 sites, according to the
company's website.
In recent years infrastructure and private equity investors have
competed for slices in some of the largest tower deals,
including Deutsche Telekom's sale of a majority stake in GD
Towers, because of their stable cash yield and long-term
contracts.
($1 = 0.8241 pounds)
(Reporting by Amy-Jo Crowley and Andres Gonzalez, with
additional reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Helen Popper)
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