Brookfield to Buy American Tower’s India Business for $2.5B
Brookfield Asset Management will acquire the Indian business of American Tower Corporation (ATC India) for $2 billion through its Data Infrastructure Trust (DIT) as it looks to expand its portfolio of telecommunication services.
DIT currently houses Brookfield’s telecom tower businesses in India through Summit Digitel and Crest Digitel.
Total cash proceeds include a ticking fee that accrues from October 1, 2023, to the date of closing. Proceeds associated with the $2 billion enterprise value assume the repayment of existing intercompany debt and the repayment, or assumption, of the existing India term loan, by DIT
The transaction, Brookfield’s third in the telecommunications sector, is expected to offer the asset manager access to ATC India’s enormous network of about 78,000 sites across the country.
ATC, which has over 226,000 locations worldwide, originally entered the Indian market 17 years ago. As of the end of 2022, the company had more than 77,000 towers in the country, albeit its main customer is debt-laden Vodafone Idea.
It is the country’s third largest tower infrastructure services provider, trailing only Indus Towers and Summit Digitel, which acquired Reliance Jio’s telecom towers. Brookfield owns around 157,000 towers across India, with Reliance Jio being as its primary tenant.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2024.