(Bloomberg) -- EQT AB is emerging as the front-runner to acquire a stake in French telecom tower owner TDF, people familiar with the matter said. 

The Stockholm-based private equity firm is seen as the strongest contender to acquire the 45% TDF stake being sold by Brookfield Asset Management Inc., the people said. TDF could be valued at about €9 billion ($8.9 billion) including debt in any sale, one of the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. 

Other suitors have also been competing for the stake in TDF, and Brookfield hasn’t yet picked a winning bidder, the people said. Tillman Infrastructure and TDF’s former owner Orange SA are among parties that were earlier studying a potential deal, according to the people. 

Representatives for Brookfield, EQT, Orange and Tillman declined to comment. 

Infrastructure assets are attractive to investment funds due to their ability generate steady, predictable returns. In July, Brookfield and DigitalBridge Group Inc. agreed to buy a stake in Deutsche Telekom AG’s towers unit in a deal valuing the business at €17.5 billion.

More recently, private equity firms including EQT, KKR & Co. and Global Infrastructure Partners have been exploring investments in Vodafone Group Plc’s listed tower business, Bloomberg News has reported.

--With assistance from Tara Patel, Thomas Seal and Francois de Beaupuy.

(Updates with detail on towers deal in fifth paragraph.)

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