UBS and Morgan Stanley expected to lead Vodafone Tower IPO

Swiss investment bank UBS and its US rival Morgan Stanley are the front-runners to organise the listing of Vodafone's European towers unit.

According to Reuters, which cited sources familiar with the matter, the transaction would include Vodafone's Italian mobile tower arm, INWIT, with one of the sources ascribing an enterprise value of between 12-16bn to the unit.

The listing was expected to take place on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and to allow Vodafone to raise three to four billion euros.

Goldman Sachs had reportedly also pitched for a role in the listing and was hoping to be in the driver's seat.