Brookfield Asset Management reportedly opened talks with Cellnex on a joint bid for Deutsche Telekom’s towers unit, in a deal which could value the assets at up to €20 billion including debt.

Bloomberg reported Brookfield Asset Management could also end up pursuing a solo bid. Other companies are said to be studying offers for either a minority or controlling stake in the Deutsche Telekom tower unit, with Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, DigitalBridge Group and Vodafone Group’s Vantage Towers named as interested parties.

Deutsche Telekom is understood to have started the sales process for its mobile towers business in March, as it continues to pursue efforts to maximise the value of its infrastructure assets. It was previously suggested the 40,600 masts could fetch up to €18 billion.

In April, Reuters reported Deutsche Telekom had begun assessing various bids from companies including Vantage Towers and a consortium comprising KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).

Cellnex already jointly owns towers with Deutsche Telekom in Switzerland and the Netherlands. The tower company does not as yet operate any assets in Germany.

Deutsche Telekom owns almost 33,000 towers in Germany. Subsidiary GD Towers holds the domestic sites along with 7,000 in Austria.