Indian telecom operator Reliance Communications is set to announce the sale of its stake in telecom tower company Reliance Infratel to a private equity firm.
According to local press reports, the deal is expected to be announced in the coming days. Reliance expects an enterprise value of approximately 230 billion rupees ($3.5 billion). Some bidders showed interest in buying out Reliance Communications’ entire stake, while other interested firms want to acquire a majority 51% stake.
The Indian company is looking to sell its complete stake in the company as it urgently needs fresh funds to reduce its debt levels.
Reliance Communications currently owns 96% of Reliance Infratel. Other minority and institutional investors including George Soros’ Quantum, NSR Partners, Galleon, HSBC Daisy Investment (Mauritius), Drawbridge Towers and Investment Partners B (Mauritius) own the remainder.
Financial firms Standard Chartered and SBI Capital Markets are managing the stake sale process.
Reliance Infratel currently operates 45,000 telecommunications towers across India. Other telecom tower operators in the Asian nation include Indus Towers, ATC-Viom and Bharti Infratel.
Last month, American Tower reached an agreement to buy a 51% controlling stake at Indian telecom tower firm Viom Networks for 76 billion rupees.
Telenor India to add 950 new mobile sites in Bihar, Jharkhand
In related news, Telenor India announced plans to add 950 new mobile sites in Bihar and Jharkhand states, covering over 3,380 new towns.
With this expansion, Telenor will operate a total of 4,185 sites in these two states. “The new network will help Telenor deliver better voice quality and enhanced data speed to its customers,” Telenor India said in a release.
By the end of 2015, the operator also plans to add at least 14,250 new sales outlets across India taking the total number of outlets to over 80,000.
Telenor India currently provides mobile services in six Indian telecommunications circles. At the end of the third quarter, Telenor India had 40.8 million subscribers in the country.
