American Tower closing in on Tata Tele stake

Relief at last, for the underdog Tata Tele..DNA writes that American Tower Company (ATC) is believed to be the frontrunner among the bidders for investing in the tower firm of Tata Teleservices. Sources suggest a valuation of $2 Bn. from Tata Tele side.

Tata Teleservices MD Anil Sardana says divesture in the tower company would be concluded by the end of May. Tata Tele wants to divest between 26% and 49%. According to the company, around 15 strategic investors were shortlisted for picking up a stake in the hived-off tower entity of Tata Tele.

Indus Towers, the JV tower company between Bharti, Vodafone and Idea, may also look at divesting some of its stake to strategic investors. Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar and Idea merged their tower assets in 16 circles to form an independent tower company Indus Towers. Bharti and Vodafone have 42% stake each in the company while Idea Cellular holds 16% in it.

Temasek, Crown Castle in talks with Tata Teleservices for stake in towers business

Singapore-based government private equity arm Temasek Holdings and wireless tower operator Crown Castle International are in talks to buy around 15% in the mobile phone towers business of Tata Teleservices Limited. Tata Teleservices is in talks with several firms about spinning off its mobile phone towers into a separate unit, part or all of which could then be sold. The tower business of Tata Teleservices has been valued at up to $1 bn. Temasek already holds nearly 10% of the company, which has more than 5000 mobile phone towers. Tata Teleservices, along with subsidiary Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited, has more than 15.5 mn subscribers in India.

Rival firm Reliance Communications Limited is spinning off its towers business into a separate unit. American Tower Corporation as well as private equity firms including Blackstone, Carlyle and Temasek have shown interest in Reliance Communications' towers unit.

Read the article in The Economic Times.