Macquarie SBI Infrastructure Fund (MSIF) has bought an 11% stake in Viom Networks, an Indian telecom tower company previously known as Quippo-WTTIL, for Rs14.2bn (US$304m), Viom Networks said in a statement.
The stake was sold by Quippo Telecom Infra,…
Macquarie SBI Infrastructure Fund (MSIF) has bought an 11% stake in Viom Networks, an Indian telecom tower company previously known as Quippo-WTTIL, for Rs14.2bn (US$304m), Viom Networks said in a statement.
The stake was sold by Quippo Telecom Infra, which owns the company together with Tata Teleservices.
The proceeds from the transaction are expected to be used to repay loans, making it debt free, Viom said. The company, which currently has 37,000 towers with 80,000 tenants, plans to set up another 25,000 towers in the next two years, Viom added.
“We are delighted that this investment has been secured by MSIF. This closely follows the recently announced investment by the Fund in Adhunik Power and Natural Resources, the first power investment made by MSIF,” said Varun Bajpai, CEO, SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Management, in a separate company statement. He added that the fund continued to evaluate other investment opportunities, notably in the airport and road sectors.
MSIF is an India-focused infrastructure fund jointly managed by Australia-based Macquarie Capital and State Bank of India. This announcement comes more than a year after MSIF had its initial close.
