BackBharti Airtel to sell 4,800 towers in Nigeria to American Tower Corp
Airtel will be the anchor tenant on the towers under a 10-year initial lease
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New Delhi: Bharti Airtel Ltd, the third largest telco in the world, will sell 4,800 of its towers in Nigeria, one of its biggest markets in Africa, to American Tower Corp. (ATC), for an undisclosed amount, a statement by the company said on Monday.
This is the third such deal announced by Bharti Airtel, as it continues to hive off non-essential businesses and focus on its core business of communications services in Africa, where it has operations in 17 countries. The Africa operations are yet to become profitable for India’s largest telco since they were acquired from Kuwait-based Zain in 2010 for around $9 billion.
Airtel will be the anchor tenant on the towers under a 10-year initial lease.
ATC is one of the largest independent tower companies in the world with around 70,000 towers across the globe. ATC has a small operation in India as well. The deal is expected to close in the next six months, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval.
“The agreement will allow Airtel to focus on its core business and customers, enable it to deleverage through debt reduction and will significantly reduce its on-going capital expenditures on passive infrastructure in Nigeria," a statement from Airtel said.
The deal with ATC comes two months after Bharti Airtel announced that it had signed an agreement with Eaton Towers to divest 3,500 towers in six African countries. In July, Bharti Airtel had announced a deal with Helios Towers to sell 3,100 towers in four African countries.
“The latest deal takes Bharti maybe one more deal away from its target of divesting 15,000 towers in Africa to reduce costs and focus on its main business. That should also happen by the end of this year," a Mumbai-based telecom analyst working with a multinational brokerage said, requesting anonymity. The analyst estimated that Bharti Airtel has so far made around $1.5 billion from the sale and lease back of its towers.
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