A clutch of global investors - including Temasek Holdings, The Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD) and Goldman Sachs – have agreed to invest $1 billion in Bharti Airtel's wholly owned subsidiary, Bharti Infratel. This puts the company's enterprise values at around $10- 12.5 billion.
Temasek Holdings is the largest investor in the company, while Macquarie, AIF Capital and Citigroup & India Equity Partners (IEP) being the other investors in the company.
However, the valuation of $10-12.5 billion will be determined on the basis of Bharti Infratel's actual operating performance in financial year 2008-09.
This placement highlights the confidence of leading global investors in the Indian telecom sector, which is now the fastest growing telecom market in the world and the Bharti Group.
Bharti Infratel owns close to 20,000 sites and holds about 42 per cent stake in Indus Towers, the recently announced joint venture between Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular. Indus Towers has over 70,000 sites.
Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers will provide passive infrastructure services to all wireless telecom operators in India on a non-discriminatory basis. Sharing of passive infrastructure results in capex and opex savings and higher capital efficiency for all wireless operators, enabling quicker rollout of services especially in rural areas. |
