GTL Infrastructure pays $1.8 billion for Aircel's tower portfolio

Mumbai-based telecommunications infrastructure company GTL Infrastructure will buy the telecom tower assets of mobile phone firm Aircel for Rs84 billion ($1.8 billion).

The deal is structured as an asset purchase by GTL of Aircel's 17,500 existing towers, which comprise 21,000 tenancies. In addition to the existing towers, Aircel will also provide 20,000 new towers to GTL over a three-year period.
 
Aircel is the seventh largest wireless telecom operator in India with 29 million subscribers as of November 2009. It is a joint venture between Malaysian telecom company Maxis Communications, the largest mobile phone service provider in Malaysia, and India's Apollo Hospital Group. Maxis owns 74% of Aircel.

This transaction will make GTL the world's largest independent tower company with a portfolio of more than 32,500 towers across all 23 telecom circles in India. The deal, which requires court approval as it is being done through a slump sale process for tax reasons, is expected to be completed by May.

GTL will fund the deal by raising Rs34 billion of fresh equity, while the balance will come from debt. SBI Capital Markets has been mandated to raise the debt, which is expected to be made up primarily of term loans provided by a consortium of banks led by India's largest bank, the State Bank of India.