Indian cellco Reliance Communications (RCOM) has signed an agreement to sell its telecoms towers to Tillman Global Holding and TPG Asia, with earnings from the sale set to be used to reduce its debt, which currently stands at around INR400 billion (USD5.99 billion). Under the agreement, RCOM’s nationwide tower assets will be spun off from its infrastructure arm, Reliance Infratel, into a separate special purpose vehicle, which will be 100% owned by Tillman and TPG. RCOM will remain an anchor tenant on the towers under a long-term master service agreement (MSA). The deal is subject to due diligence and regulatory approvals and, whilst the companies involved did provide any financial details, the Economic Times estimates the value of the transaction to be around INR215 billion.
In a separate and independent transaction, Tillman and TPG are also evaluating a potential purchase of RCOM’s inter-city and intra-city fibre-optic networks, RCOM added.