Dutch operator KPN is considering the sale of thousands of cell towers used by its German subsidiary E-Plus, according to Reuters sources. The company is believed to have enlisted the help of financial services group UBS as it looks for a potential buyer for the infrastructure.

According to the source, infrastructure funds are the most likely buyers for the assets in a deal that could be worth between EUR300 million and EUR400 million. E-Plus is likely to lease the towers back from the new owner. The various parties all declined to comment on the speculation.

E-Plus has around 18,000 towers in Germany, according to Reuters. These towers were upgraded “relatively recently” according to a telecoms analyst but have been less aggressively updated for 4G services than those of rival operators.

KPN said in June that it had abandoned plans to find a merger partner for E-Plus with Telefonica’s O2 reported to have been in the discussions about a deal. The strategy to merge E-Plus was seen as a tactic to ward off a hostile bid by America Movil, which recently upped its stake in KPN to 28 percent.