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GTL and Aircel reach $1.8bn tower deal
14 January 2010
GTL, an Indian telecoms infrastructure company, is to buy Aircel’s mobile phone towers for $1.8 billion, beating four others to the deal
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GTL
Aircel
India
State Bank of India
American Tower
Crown Castle
Bharti Infratel
Tata Quippo
Comment: The highly competitive Indian market is seeing a concentration in its infrastructure operations to two or three companies
India’s GTL Infrastructure is buying 17,500 mobile phone towers owned by Aircel for $1.8 billion. The deal will make GTL one of the largest independent mobile mast firms in the country with about 30,000 towers.
The transaction is backed by a $1.2 billion loan from State Bank of India. Proceeds are likely to go towards refinancing Aircel’s existing debt, and paying the cash component of the deal.
GTL will also gain Aircel as a key customer and go beyond its expansion target of 24,000 towers by 2014.
Once the deal is announced, Aircel will start the process of demerging the tower business.
Malaysia’s Maxis Communications, Aircel’s holding company, is also likely to put on hold plans to sell a stake in Aircel. Maxis is seeking to divest a 26% stake in the company.
Two US companies, American Tower and Crown Castle, and two other Indian companies, Bharti Infratel and Tata Quippo, were also said to be interested in the towers. GTB