Telecom tower operator American Tower has said it would sell its India operations to an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management for ₹21,000 crore. American Tower is an American real estate investment firm with a portfolio of nearly 2.25 lakh communications infrastructure and interconnected footprint of the United States data centre facilities. It has more than 75,000 towers in India, becoming its largest overseas business, according to its website. ATC serves all the nation’s major telecom service providers.
DIT currently houses asset manage Brookfield’s telecom tower businesses in India through Summit Digitel and Crest Digitel. The ATC deal is Brookfield’s third telecom acquisition in the country over the last four years.
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According to a statement from ATC on Thursday, total cash proceeds to American Tower at closing, subject to certain pre-closing terms, would potentially represent up to approximately ₹21,000 crore at today’s exchange rates.
“The transaction, marking the culmination of the previously announced strategic review of American Tower’s operations in India, is subject to customary closing conditions, including government and regulatory approvals, and is anticipated to conclude in the second half of 2024,” the statement read.
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The total cash proceeds comprise an enterprise value for the ATC India operations of approximately $2.0 billion, along with a ticking fee accruing from October 1, 2023, to the closing date. The calculation of proceeds related to the enterprise value takes into account the repayment of existing intercompany debt and the repayment or assumption of the existing India term loan by DIT, it further added.
Additionally, as part of the total potential cash proceeds mentioned earlier, American Tower will retain the full economic benefit linked to the optionally converted debentures issued by Vodafone Idea and is entitled to future payments associated with existing ATC India receivables.
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The proceeds from the transaction are expected to be utilised for repaying American Tower’s existing indebtedness, the statement said.