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ATC to buy India’s Essar towers for $400m
10 December 2009
American Tower, the US company that operators passive infrastructure for mobile phone operators, is to buy a controlling stake in the tower business of Essar in India
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ATC
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Comment: There’s serious consolidation going on in the Indian tower business. It makes sense, as the market is hugely competitive and operators need to minimise their costs — and sharing towers is a sensible way of doing that.
American Tower Corporation is purchasing a controlling stake in Indian company Essar’s telecom infrastructure unit, in a deal valued between $350 and $400 million.
The Boston-based mobile-phone tower operator did not disclose the exact size of the stake to be acquired. The deal may be announced in early January. ATC and Essar have dropped the deal twice earlier, due to disagreements over valuation.
Barclays Capital is advising Essar on the deal. Other companies interested in the tower business include Tata-Quippo, GTL Infrastructure, a private equity fund, New Silk Route, a US hedge fund, Quadrangle, and an Asia-focused private equity fund, Olympus Capital.
ATC has also bought the tower assets of Mumbai-based Xcel Telecom, and was also interested in acquiring the telecom towers of Aircel. GTB