3i Infrastructure have bid for French telecoms masts business FPS Towers. Antin, the owner, hopes could raise up to €1 billion, as it seeks to build its UK-focused Wireless Infrastructure Group into a European platform.

Antin Infrastructure Partners is working with financial adviser JP Morgan on the sale. In addition to that, American Tower Corp and Spain's Cellnex are also among around 10 bidders.

Typically valued at very high multiples while producing steady revenues telecoms towers have become increasingly attractive to investors. Investing in their networks and channel more data, more quickly to their customers have made debt-burdened telecoms operators sell their towers.

American Tower acquired Verizon's mobile towers in the U.S. for about USD$5 billion last year while Crown Castle bought rights to about 9,700 AT&T Inc wireless communication towers for USD$4.85 billion in 2013.

Antin has received around ten offers, most of them from American firms, plus a few Europeans but no French bidders. French sector leader TDF, which was acquired by a consortium led by Brookfield Infrastructure and Canada's PSP Investments for EUR€3.5 billion in 2014, did not take part.

Antin is hoping to get final bids in December and close a deal shortly afterwards.