ATC may buy Vodafone, Idea tower biz; SkyPower seeks investment

By Keshav Sunkara

  • 25 Oct 2017
Credit: Shah Junaid/VCCircle

NYSE-listed American Tower Corporation (ATC) is looking to buy 20,000 standalone towers of Vodafone India Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd for over $1 billion (Rs 6,516 crore) in an all-cash deal, a financial daily reported.

The Economic Times cited two people saying that the companies are finalising the contours of the deal. Investment bankers Morgan Stanley and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch have taken the selling side mandates for Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, respectively.

In 2015, ATC had acquired a 51% stake in telecommunications tower company Viom Networks Ltd for Rs 7,635 crore.

Both Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, which had agreed to merge earlier this year, had intended to sell their standalone tower assets before deal is completed in 2018.

SkyPower

Canadian solar power developer SkyPower Global S.a.r.l. has given a mandate to Yes Bank to sell a stake in its solar power assets in India, Mint reported.

In 2015, SkyPower had won bids to develop 350 megawatt of solar projects in Telangana and Madhya Pradesh.

SkyPower is majority owned by CIM Group, a US-based urban real estate and infrastructure fund manager.

In May 2016, the Toronto-based company had entered into an agreement with Shenzen-based BYD Company Ltd to jointly bid for solar projects of up to 750 megawatt in India.

Mytrah Energy

In another development, renewable energy producer Mytrah Energy (India) Pvt. Ltd is looking to delist its holding company Mytrah Energy Ltd from the London Stock Exchange, ahead of its planned initial public offering in India.

Two unnamed people told Mint that the London-listed entity could find it difficult to price the public offer in India appropriately, given the valuation difference between the two entities.

Mytrah, which has a portfolio of 2,000 megawatts of operational and under-development renewable power projects across nine states in India, had raised debt investments of $277 million from Piramal Group for two of its subsidiaries.