 "American Tower Corp to invest Rs 13,300 crore in India")
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday cleared the proposal of American Tower Corp (ATC) to acquire 51 per cent stake in Viom Networks for Rs 5,856.51 crore.
ATC will also invest Rs 13,300 crore ($2 billion) in India, Union Minister for Communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said. This was revealed in a meeting of ATC CEO James D Taiclet Jr with Prasad on Wednesday.
This $2 billion will be apart from what ATC will be spending on buying the stake in Viom.
Singapore-based mobile tower company ATC Asia Pacific has decided to make an investment of Rs 5,856.51 crore to buy 51 per cent stake in Indian company Viom Networks. ATC Asia Pacific is a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Tower Corp.
In October 2015, ATC had announced buying 51 per cent stake in Viom, which owns and operates about 42,200 towers and has another 1,000 mobile phone masts under construction, from Tata Teleservices and SREI Infrastructure Finance. Under the agreement, ATC may also acquire or be required to acquire all or a portion of the remaining 49 per cent ownership stake in Viom.
Also, as a pre-condition for the deal, ATC's existing 14,000 telecom mobile masts will be merged with Viom. Tata Teleservices Ltd owns 54 per cent of Viom, while Kolkata-based SREI Group of Kanoria family holds 18.5 per cent with management control.
Singapore state investor GIC, Macquarie SBI Infrastructure Fund, Oman Investment Fund and India's IDFC Private Equity are other investors in the company. ATC will buy all of Srei's 18.50 per cent stake and will also acquire stake from other shareholders.
"Tata Teleservices stake will come down to about 34 per cent from current 54 per cent now and further it would reduce to 26 per cent after ATC merges its Indian business with Viom," said Sunil Kanoria, vice-chairman of SREI Infrastructure Finance.
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IDFC's private equity division will bring down its holding to 3.2 per cent, while private equity fund SBI-Macquarie will retain its 11 per cent stake.
Viom was formed in 2009 as a result of merger of mobile towers of Tata Teleservices and Quippo Telecom - a unit under SREI Group.