Investment company KKR is set to buy a minority stake in Altice’s tower business after seeing off bids from two rival private equity firms, Reuters reported.

KKR already owns stakes in a number of telecommunications infrastructure companies including Bharti Airtel subsidiary Bharti Infratel and Telefonica towers business Telxius.

Altice put the share of its tower assets in France and Portugal up for sale as part of ongoing attempts to reduce its massive debt pile. The final sale amount was not revealed, however reports ahead of the sale estimated it could raise €3 billion.

The Netherlands-headquartered company is midway through a programme to slash debt accumulated after years of aggressive M&A activity. At the end of Q4 2017, net debt for its European business stood at €31 billion, a sum it is attempting to reduce through sales of assets deemed non-core.

Altice’s fundraising measures followed a sustained period of poor financial performance in its European operation. In November 2017, CEO Michel Combes resigned during a wider managerial shake-up as the company looked to turn around the unit.