Airtel may sell tower biz in Africa for $1.8 billion

If deal goes through it will help the company reduce its debt burden

Bharti Airtel may sell its telecom tower business in Africa for $1.8 billion, CNBC-TV18 reported on Tuesday. If the deal goes through, this will help the company to reduce its debt of $9.69 billion (as of September).

Earlier, it was reported the company may consider transferring the tower business to its Indian tower unit. Bharti has 15,000 towers in Africa. It has reportedly received expression of interest from Helios, ATC, Eaton and IHS. Airtel declined comment.

After announcing the company’s quarterly results last month, Bharti’s Group Chief Financial Officer Sarvjit Singh Dhillon had said that the company was not looking at hiving off its tower business in Africa into a separate company, and may look at the operating structure of the business at a later stage.

 

Majority of Bharti’s debt is because of its $10.7-bliion acquisition of Zain Telecom’s Africa business in Africa in 2010. Recently, a Bharti spokesperson has told Business Standard that the company was in a “very comfortable position” given the size and strength of its balance sheet. Its current debt/Ebitda ratio is at 2.2, down from almost 3 in 2011.