Private equity firm Blackstone Inc is reportedly set to snap up a minority stake in Rogers Communications' wireless infrastructure business.

Blackstone was revealed to be the investor interested in the assets by The Globe and Mail last week, after Canadian carrier Rogers revealed on October 24 it agreed to a C$7 billion (US$5.06 billion) equity financing deal aimed at reducing its overall debt.

The same publication reports that Apollo Global Management is still interested in buying a minority stake in the assets, and could come back with another offer to Rogers.

As part of that deal with Blackstone, Rogers will sell a minority equity interest in a portion of its wireless backhaul transport infrastructure.

At present, Rogers operates 4G and 5G cell sites from roughly 11,000 towers across Canada.

“We maintain control, we de-lever and the impact on our free cash flow and ability to continue to invest in our business carries on unrestricted by this transaction,” said Rogers chief financial officer Glenn Brandt during a recent earnings call.

The investment will help the company to reduce its overall debt, after its acquisition of Shaw Communications for C$20 billion (US$14.39bn), which went through in March 2023.

Completion of the deal was delayed amid a series of regulatory concerns over the impact it would have on competition in the market.

Indeed, Canada's Competition Bureau was been ordered to pay around C$13 million (US$9.58 million) in compensation to the companies after its efforts to halt the deal were deemed “unreasonable” by a tribunal.

Earlier this year, the company was also heavily linked to the sale of most of its data centers to combat the debt.