BCE Inc. (BCE) is forming a wireless tower infra company and selling a 49.9% stake to La Caisse for $2.45B, echoing the Telus deal last year at better economic terms…

… which likely reflects the size difference, with BCE’s being Canada’s largest dedicated tower company. The monetization will help drive progress towards its 2027 leverage target of 3.5x (and 2030 target of ~3x)…

… though it’s partly optics, as just under 50% of TowerCo’s cash flows will go to La Caisse. The sell-down could also help fund the company’s growth ambitions…

… with most of the spend tied to its $1.7B Saskatchewan AI project coming this year. While BCE’s multiple has compressed on both industry and company-specific headwinds…

… and turnarounds of this scale take time, there’s room for a re-rate if these moves result in improving fundamentals.

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