Indus acquired 12,700 towers from Airtel and an additional 3,400 from Bharti Hexacom
Indian tower operator Indus Towers has expanded its portfolio by more than 16,000 towers following agreements with Bharti Airtel and its subsidiary, Bharti Hexacom. As part of the transaction, the company acquired 12,700 towers from Airtel and an additional 3,400 from Bharti Hexacom. The total deal is valued at $379 million.
“The Board of Directors have approved the acquisition of passive infrastructure assets/ telecom towers from Bharti Airtel Limited and Bharti Hexacom Limited, by way of slump sale,” Indus stated in a regulatory filing.
A slump sale refers to the sale of a business unit or division as a whole for a single lump sum payment.
As the largest tower operator in India, the tower company manages over 234,000 towers nationwide, along with more than 386,000 colocation sites.
Founded in 2007 by Bharti Infratel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular, Indus Towers emerged from a partnership between these entities, with the latter two merging later. Last month, U.K-based Vodafone Group has finalized the sale of its remaining 3% stake in the Indian company.
The company reported that $105 million from the sale proceeds has been used to fully repay outstanding debts to existing lenders. The remaining $225 million was allocated to increase Vodafone’s ownership in Indian telecom operator Vodafone Idea. With this investment, Vodafone’s stake in Vodafone Idea has increased from 22.56% to 24.39%
In December 2024, Vodafone announced plans to divest its remaining 79.2 million shares in Indus Towers through an accelerated book-building process. Earlier in 2024, the telco sold an 18% stake in Indus Towers for a total of $1.78 billion.
