By Stuart Condie

SYDNEY--The competition for Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.'s Australian mobile towers suggests a strong appetite for quality infrastructure assets, the head of Singtel's local mobile subsidiary said.

Singtel on Friday announced the sale of a 70% stake in its Australian towers for 1.9 billion Australian dollars (US$1.37 billion), two months after Telstra Corp. said it was selling a 49% interest in its towers unit.

Optus Chief Executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said the company's bankers told her the earnings multiple implied by the sale to the AustralianSuper superannuation fund was a global record for a tower sale.

That could bode well for TPG Telecom Ltd., Australia's No. 3 mobile provider behind Telstra and Singtel's Optus. TPG said in August it was reviewing strategic options for its tower assets.

"We obviously think that what we achieved in terms of valuation reflects the strong quality of our assets and relatively high tenancy ratio that we have with room to grow," Ms. Bayer Rosmarin said on a call with journalists.

"It doesn't mean that there won't be appetite for future transactions. I think that the market will have to respond."

The deal implies Australia Tower Network, a Singtel subsidiary that operates passive telecommunications tower infrastructure for Optus, is worth A$2.3 billion. That represents an Ebitda multiple of 38 times on a fiscal 2021 basis, compared with the 28 times achieved by Telstra.

Ms. Bayer Rosmarin said there had been about 10 enthusiastic potential buyers for the ATN towers, about half of which made it onto a shortlist. Telstra's agreement with a consortium comprising Australia's sovereign Future Fund and two superannuation funds didn't affect Optus's sale, she said.

"We had announced that we were interested in selling ours long before Telstra did that, so our process was well under way and we had a significant number of interested parties," Ms. Bayer Rosmarin said.

"So losing one, when you've still got 10, certainly in our view did not in any way hamper the process."

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

09-30-21 2355ET