Is KKR building what Europe’s phone giants couldn’t?

AS our appetite for data booms, private equity firms are betting on the cell towers and cable infrastructure to support it. The prize looks to be in creating the pan-European giant that has so far eluded the region’s telecoms industry.

For years, Europe’s carriers have struggled to consolidate across the continent in the same way as their US counterparts. But KKR & Co is making strides in the tower business, where companies lease space to mobile carriers to install the antennae that power their networks.