La Caisse to Acquire 49.9% of Bell Towers in Deal Valued at a Reported $1.7 Billion

Key Facts

BCE announced a partnership under which La Caisse will acquire a 49.9% stake in Bell’s wireless tower company, according to the headline of a statement the company posted in its newsroom in October 2026. A Seeking Alpha report headline said the stake was valued at $1.7 billion, without specifying the currency in the available text. The consideration and closing terms could not be independently verified, so the value attributed to the report remains separate from the details confirmed in BCE’s announcement. The deal brings an institutional investor into ownership of part of Bell’s tower infrastructure, while details of the assets included or the operating structure were not available. The announcement comes as BCE targets a reduction in its net debt-to-EBITDA ratio to 3.5 times by the end of 2027, then to about 3.0 times by 2030.

BCE’s financial position provides context for the significance of any potential proceeds from the deal, although the available facts do not say how the company will use the sale proceeds. BCE’s net debt was about C$39.959 billion on June 30, 2026, compared with C$40.234 billion at the end of 2025. In the second quarter of 2026, operating revenue rose 1.5% year over year to C$6.176 billion. But free cash flow fell 9.5% to C$1.042 billion, and the company said the decline was mainly due to higher capital expenditures despite increased cash flows from operating activities. This means the deal comes amid stated debt-reduction targets and a decline in free cash flow in the latest financial period cited here; BCE has not publicly linked these metrics to the agreement in the details available.

La Caisse’s earlier deal with TELUS offers a Canadian example of selling a minority stake in tower assets while the telecom company retains a majority stake. On August 1, 2025, TELUS announced a definitive agreement under which La Caisse would acquire a 49.9% stake in Terrion and its general partner for about $1.26 billion. La Caisse’s statement said TELUS’s net debt was expected to decline by about $1.26 billion, equivalent to about 0.17 times its then-current net debt-to-EBITDA ratio. La Caisse said Terrion would comprise about 3,000 sites in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. The statement described the partnership as creating Canada’s largest dedicated wireless tower operator, while regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions were still pending at the time of the announcement, with receipt expected before the end of the third quarter of 2025.

The TELUS arrangements provided for leasing tower capacity from Terrion for an initial term of 8 years, with renewal options, and for TELUS to retain a 50.1% stake against 49.9% for La Caisse. This structure allowed the operating company to remain the majority partner while continuing to access existing and new towers, according to La Caisse’s statement. But those terms relate to TELUS’s 2025 agreement and do not establish that BCE’s deal includes similar arrangements. The expected approval timeline for Terrion was also part of the expectations at the time the agreement was announced, not confirmation of what happened afterward. La Caisse had about C$552 billion in net assets on June 30, 2026, putting the institutional investor’s scale in the context of its infrastructure partnerships.

BCE shares closed at $20.25 on October 26, 2026, the day before the announcement was published. The facts provided do not include the share price after the announcement or the next session’s movement, so the prior close cannot be linked to a market reaction to the deal. The next milestone is the third-quarter results call, which BCE said it would hold with the financial community on Thursday, November 5, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. The results may give the company an opportunity to clarify the proceeds from the stake sale, its financial impact or the closing terms, but the available information does not confirm that it will provide those details on the call. Details of the deal value and currency, the tower assets included and the terms still need clarification from the company.