American Tower has won clearance from the Competition Commission of India to acquire a majority stake in local towerco Viom Networks. The acquisitive company has also finalised its US$1.24bn note offering to repay existing debt and for general corporate purposes.
American Tower (NYSE:AMT) has won clearance from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to acquire a majority stake in local towerco Viom Networks.
The commission revealed on Twitter that it had approved the US towerco’s planned purchase of a 51% stake in Viom, which says it owns and operates some 42,000 towers with more than 100,000 tenancies.
Boston-based American Tower reached a long-anticipated agreement last October to acquire the stake from Tata Teleservices and Srei Infrastructure for a cash consideration of Rs76bn (US$1.17bn).
The company may be required to acquire all or some of the remaining 49%, starting in 2018-2019. As such, Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche has said she expects the total transaction, which she described as “timely and strategic”, to be worth about Rs76bn (US$2.3bn).
In an October statement, American Tower said Viom’s current majority shareholder, Tata Teleservices, would retain part of its holding, while Macquarie SBI Infrastructure Investments, Macquarie SBI Infrastructure Trust and IDFC Private Equity Fund II would retain certain interests.
American Tower plans to merge its existing 14,000 local towers, held by subsidiary ATC India, with Viom’s portfolio.
The company said in the statement that it will finance the deal “in a manner consistent with maintaining its investment grade credit rating” but did not elaborate.
American Tower received financial advice on the deal from Evercore and Kotak Investment Bank and legal advice from Clifford Chance, AZB & Partners and Luthra and Luthra. Viom was advised by Credit Suisse, while Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas provided legal counsel.
American Tower has a global portfolio of about 97,000 owned or managed sites, most in its core US market. It is also present in Latin America (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru), Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda) and Germany. It has recently been linked to interest in Telecom Italia’s tower spin-off, Inwit.
American Tower and CCI were not immediately available for further comment.
US$1.24bn note offering
Meanwhile, American Tower said in an SEC filing that it has completed its registered public offering of senior unsecured notes worth a total US$1.24bn.
The offering consists of US$750m of 3.3% notes due 15 February 2021 and US$500m of 4.4% notes due 15 February 2026.
The 2021 notes priced at 99.85% of their core value, and the 2026 notes at 99.71%.
The company plans to use the proceeds to repay existing debt and under its multi-currency unsecured revolving credit facility inked in June 2013, and for general corporate purposes.
American Tower may redeem the notes in full or in part at any time.
BNP Paribas, BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley acted as joint bookrunning managers for the offering.