- Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP.UN) has completed its acquisition of an Indian telecommunication tower company from Reliance Industry Investments
- The deal requires an equity investment of approximately C$3.4 billion, of which Brookfield will invest $600 million
- The portfolio of recently completed towers provides a platform to capitalise on the rollout of 5G across India
- Reliance will an anchor tenant of the business under a 30-year master services agreement
- Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP.UN) is currently up 1.06 per cent and is trading at $57.39 per share
Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP.UN) has completed its acquisition of an Indian telecommunication tower company from Reliance Industry Investments.
The deal was originally announced in mid-December last year and will require an equity investment from Brookfield and its institutional partners of approximately C$3.4 billion, of which Brookfield will fork out $600 million.
Roughly 135,000 recently completed communication towers were acquired under the agreement with Reliance Industry Investments, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries.
The towers, being largely connected by fiber backhaul, are expected to provide a well-placed platform to capitalise on the rollout of 5G across India.
Sam Pollock, CEO of Brookfield Infrastructure, said he is pleased to have completed the acquisition, which was one of the company’s primary goals for 2020.
“The acquisition of this large-scale, high-quality telecom tower business significantly expands and diversifies our Data Infrastructure segment and competitively positions us in India’s growing data industry,” he added.
Reliance will continue to act on behalf of Brookfield as an anchor tenant of the telecommunications tower business under a 30-year master services agreement. This is anticipated to provide a secure, long-term stream of revenue, with a staged business plan to grow the tower portfolio to 175,000 towers in the near future.
Anuj Ranjan, Managing Partner and Head of India and the Middle East at Brookfield Infrastructure, also commented on the completion of the acquisition and noted the company’s confidence in the long-term prospects for data sector growth in India.
“We are looking forward to continuing to work alongside Reliance, which has established itself as a leading telecom and technology company in India.
“The recent investments by leading global technology companies and private equity investors in [Reliance] Jio is further testimony to the platform Reliance has built and their strength as our anchor tenant,” he said.
Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP.UN) is currently up 1.06 per cent and is trading at $57.39 per share at 11:02am EDT.
