Is another billion dollar pay day looming for Telstra (ASX:TLS) shareholders?

The Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price is pushing higher on Friday morning.

At the time of writing, the telco giant’s shares are up 1% to $3.99.

This leaves the Telstra share price trading within sight of its 52-week high of $4.05.

Why is the Telstra share price pushing higher?

Investors have been bidding the Telstra share price higher this year amid its greatly improved outlook.

This has been driven by the successful execution of its T22 strategy, the unveiling of its upcoming T25 strategy, and acquisitions and divestments.

The latter involved the sale of a 49% stake in the Telstra InfraCo Towers business to a consortium comprising the Future Fund, Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation, and Sunsuper.

That deal valued Telstra InfraCo Towers at $5.9 billion, which led to Telstra generating net cash proceeds after transaction costs of $2.8 billion.

From this, the company decided to return $1.35 billion to shareholders via an on-market share buyback.

What’s next?

Potentially boosting the Telstra share price today are reports that the InfraCo Fixed business could be catching the eye of infrastructure investors.

According to the AFR, a source close to the Telstra InfraCo Towers deal has said that the InfraCo Fixed business “will be the big monster.”

In fact, Telstra’s CEO, Andy Penn, notes that InfraCo Fixed is six times larger than the InfraCo Towers business on an earnings basis. This appears to indicate that he believes Telstra could command a significantly higher price for these assets.

He commented: “The Amplitel [InfraCo Towers] sale price and multiple together with the speed at which the sale closed is indicative of the quality of the InfraCo assets. InfraCo Fixed is over six times larger than Amplitel on an income and EBITDAaL basis, while it is more complex in nature, InfraCo Fixed is a very strategic portfolio.”

The team at Goldman Sachs certainly believe the business is worth a lot more than the towers business. The broker’s sum of the parts valuation gives the total fixed business a $13.5 billion enterprise value on a 7x estimated FY 2023 EBITDA multiple. It is worth noting that the InfraCo Towers business was sold on a 28x EBITDA multiple.

All in all, if a deal were made and management decides to return a portion of these proceeds to shareholders, it could mean another billion-dollar (plus) payday. That could be via special dividends or another share buyback.

In light of this, it will definitely be worth keeping a close eye on the Telstra share price in 2022.

The post Is another billion dollar pay day looming for Telstra (ASX:TLS) shareholders? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• These 3 ASX 200 shares are topping the volume charts this Thursday
• Why the Telstra (ASX:TLS) share price has beaten the ASX 200 in the last 3 months
• Is the Telstra (ASX:TLS) share price the best blue-chip bet for 2022?
• These 3 ASX 200 shares are topping the volume charts on Wednesday
• Here’s why the Telstra (ASX:TLS) share price is up 33% so far in 2021

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Telstra Corporation Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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