KKR to invest Rs 1,000 cr in Bharti Infratel

Global private equity major Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company (KKR) has committed to invest around Rs 1,000 crore ($250 million) in Bharti Infratel, a wholly owned subsidiary of GSM service provider Bharti Airtel Ltd. The investments will be made by KKR's Asia dedicated private equity fund and global private equity fund.

This is in addition to the investment of $1 billion in Bharti Infratel by leading international investors Temasek Holdings, The Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), Goldman Sachs, Macquarie, AIF Capital, Citigroup and India Equity Partners (IEP) in December 2007.

The enterprise valuation of Bharti Infratel ranges between $10 billion and $12.5 billion, while the final valuation will be determined on the basis of Bharti Infratel's actual operating performance in FY09, Bharti Airtel said in a release her today.

This investment reinforces the confidence of leading global investors in the Indian telecom sector, which is now the fastest growing telecom market in the world, and the Bharti Group. It is also an endorsement of the central government's visionary policy on sharing of passive infrastructure, it said.

Bharti Infratel owns over 20,000 sites and holds around 42 per cent stake in Indus Towers, a joint venture between Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea, which has over 70,000 sites. Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers will provide passive infrastructure services to all wireless telecom operators in India.

Sharing of passive infrastructure results in capex and opex savings and higher capital efficiency for all wireless operators, enabling quicker rollout of services, especially in rural areas.