Airtel, ATC mobile tower sale deal pegged at $200 mn: Moody's

Credit rating agency Moody's today estimated Bharti Airtel deal with American Towers Corporation to be around USD 200 million.
"Details of the sales agreement have not been disclosed. However, assuming a sales price per tower of around USD 150,000 - which is line with our original estimates in March 2015 for Bharti's African tower sales transactions - we estimate proceeds would be around USD 200 million," Moody's said in a report.
Bharti Airtel on Monday said that it has entered into an agreement with ATC for sale of approximately 1,350 mobile towers in Tanzania for an undisclosed amount and the proceeds will be used for reducing debt.

Sources said that after the deal with ATC, total money raised from divestment of mobile towers in Africa by Airtel would around USD 2 billion.
"The company has committed the proceeds from all tower asset sales to debt reduction, which we view positively. Bharti's ongoing monetisation initiatives, including the Tanzania tower sales, will support debt reduction and help mitigate the ultimate effect on leverage metrics of its spectrum acquisition activities," Moody's said.
Airtel's net debt at the end of December stood at Rs 78,816 crore.

Till October, Airtel completed the sale of about 8,300 mobile towers in Africa for USD 1.7 billion (about Rs 11,000 crore), and used it for reducing debt.

Moody's Investor Service sees Airtel deal to buy spectrum of Videocon Telecom for Rs 4,428 crore as credit positive as it will further enhance Bharti's spectrum holdings, an increasingly important resource as Indian operators focus on 4G rollout.
"The spectrum acquisition from VTL is credit positive as it will improve Bharti's network quality and capacity and ultimately enhance its competitive positioning in six circles," Moody's said.