The Brazilian antitrust regulator has approved a deal between an investment vehicle owned by the Singapore government and towerco BR Towers.
The transaction will see sovereign wealth fund Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) acquire 20% of BR…
The Brazilian antitrust regulator has approved a deal between an investment vehicle owned by the Singapore government and towerco BR Towers.
The transaction will see sovereign wealth fund Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) acquire 20% of BR Towers, according to two people with direct knowledge of the transaction, cited by Bloomberg.
According to an announcement in the Brazilian government’s official journal, Diario Oficial da Uniao, competition authority Cade approved a deal between the two without conditions.
BR Towers, a subsidiary of PE firm GP Investments, refused to comment. GIC, which will make the investment through its subsidiary Twickenham Investment Pte, was unavailable for comment before the press deadline.
Last Autumn GP co-CEO Antonio Bonchristiano told TelecomFinance that the towerco was talking to potential new investors.
“Right know the only equity investor is our fund [GP Capital Partners V], but we are in discussions with two other partners who might come in as co-investors in BR Towers to give us more resources to be able to grow the company,” he said.
“Since we do see the opportunity to grow relatively fast, we think it’s quite important to bring more resources to bear”.
He added at the time that the towerco was in “very advanced conversations” and hoped to sign an agreement imminently.
Last month BR Towers merged with smaller outfit Sitesharing Brasil. The target held 100 towers and 250 build-to-suit tower contracts already signed with operators. BR Towers is now 15% owned by SS Towers Participacoes, controlled by Sitesharing’s founders.
BR Towers was formed last September after the acquisition of 2000 towers from an undisclosed Brazilian operator. Bonchristiano said that BR Towers’ ambition was to own 10,000 towers by 2015.
The Brazilian government is pushing operators to develop their infrastructure so that the country has 4G deployed in time for the World Cup next year and Rio Olympics in 2016. To reach Brasilia’s ambitious targets new infrastructure has to be built and current towers will need to be used more efficiently, which creates an opportunity for towercos.
