Q Investment closes sale of XCEL Telecom to ATC

Leading US-based private equity firm Q Investment has closed the transaction to sell 100 per cent shareholding in its incubated telecom tower firm XCEL Telecom to American Tower Corporation (ATC).

When contacted, Pranav Parikh, managing director of Q India confirmed that Q Investments had indeed closed the deal.     

XCEL Telecom was incubated in late 2006 by the Q investments family of funds to serve the growing telecom market in India and owned 100 per cent equity in the company.     

XCEL Telecom went on to build about 1,700 telecom towers across the country and emerged in a short span as a leading independent provider of shared telecom infrastructure solutions to the cellular operators.     

Q Investment sold XCEL Telecom to ATC, the largest tower company in the US. It was perhpas the first instance of an investment fund incubating a company from scratch in India and exiting it successfully in a short span of two years.     

Q Investments through its family of funds had invested about $40 million in XCEL and based on regulatory filings of American Tower, XCEL was valued at about $154 million at closure of the deal.