Largest tower company in world outside China! Indus Towers, Bharti Infratel merger complete

Bharti Airtel on Friday said the merger of Indus Towers Limited and its telecom tower arm Bharti Infratel Limited has been completed. The combined entity, to be renamed as Indus Towers Limited, is listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Limited and BSE Limited.

Upon implementation of the scheme, the aggregate shareholding of the company (along with Nettle Infrastructure Investments Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary) in the combined entity will change from 53.51 per cent to 36.73 per cent. Vodafone Group's shareholding will change to 28.12 per cent.

Also read: Bharti Infratel gets DoT nod for merger with Indus Towers

Indus Towers was a joint venture between Bharti Infratel, UK-based Vodafone Group Plc and Vodafone Idea. Bharti Infratel and Vodafone Group held 42 per cent stake each in Indus. Vodafone Idea held 11.15 per cent stake and the remaining 4.85 per cent was with private equity firm, Providence. Airtel has a majority stake in Bharti Infratel.

Bharti Infratel in its meeting on August 31 had decided to proceed with the merger with Indus Towers. As per the agreement, Vodafone Idea has sold 11.15 per cent stake in Indus for Rs 3,760.1 crore, the company said.

The combined entity has become the largest tower company in the world outside China, with a pan-India tower reach comprising 163,000 towers across 22 telecom service areas.

Also read: Bharti Infratel Q2 results: Profit dips 24% to Rs 733 crore; merger with Indus Tower to close in 30 days

Bharti Infratel had earlier said the new entity would have a turnover of over Rs 25,000 crore, controlling more than a third of the tower industry in the country.

With the amalgamation, the merged entity might save close to Rs 560 crore annually.

The merger will also help Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, which collectively owe over Rs 80,000 crore in adjusted gross revenue dues to the government, pay some of their dues.

Bharti Infratel last month reported a 24 per cent year-on-year decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 733 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2020, as against Rs 964  crore in the year-ago period. The consolidated revenue for the quarter was Rs 3,695 crore as compared to Rs 3,638 crore in the year-ago period, registering a year-on-year growth of 2 per cent.

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