Indian giant Bharti Airtel is today meeting several tower companies in London to discuss the sale of its African passive infrastructure, according to a source speaking to TelecomFinance.
Helios, Eaton, IHS, and American Tower are said to have…
Indian giant Bharti Airtel is today meeting several tower companies in London to discuss the sale of its African passive infrastructure, according to a source speaking to TelecomFinance.
Helios, Eaton, IHS, and American Tower are said to have submitted expressions of interest for some of the 15,000 towers.
Bharti’s total site portfolio on the African continent has been valued at around US$1.8bn-US$2bn.
The sale process is still in its early stages and binding offers are expected by February.
Sources familiar with the matter have suggested Bharti may choose to split its portfolio between two towercos. However, the Indian telco is expected to retain a 26% to 50% stake in the African tower arm for the next one to three years, one of the persons said.
Bharti entered the African market in 2010 when it acquired most of Zain’s assets there for US$10.7bn. India’s largest telecoms company has been expanding its presence on the continent in recent months with the acquisitions of Warid Congo Brazzaville and Warid Uganda.
Bharti Airtel says it now has operations in 17 African countries and more than 66 million customers. A sale of its towers would help it reduce its debt load, which stood at about US$9.7bn as of 30 September.
The African tower market is currently experiencing a flurry of activity with MTN, Orange and Etisalat all in the process of offloading their sites to the continent’s four main towercos.
