WL Ross likely to pick up stake in WTTIL

May buy from Quippo Telecom, which is looking at selling 15-20%.

WL Ross & Co, the US-based turnaround group, is close to acquiring a minority stake in Wireless TT Info Services (WTTIL) from one of the existing shareholders.

WL Ross was one of the new investors who would buy stake from Quippo Telecom Infrastructure, a company promoted by the Kolkata-based SREI group, sources said.

Quippo has 46 per cent stake in WTTIL. It is believed that Quippo is looking at selling 15 to 20 per cent of its holding in WTTIL. Apart from WL Ross, SBI Macquarie, a private equity fund, is also believed to be interested.

The company, which has 39,000 towers, is valued at around Rs 19,500 crore. A spokesperson at WTTIL said they did not comment on market speculation.

WTTIL will announce a new name, logo and branding for the company tomorrow. WTTIL was formed in 2009, after the merger of telecom tower operations of Tata Teleservices and Quippo.

ALL ABOUT WTTIL

# It was formed in 2009, after the merger of telecom tower operations of Tata Teleservices and Quippo

# It is believed that Quippo is looking at selling 15 to 20 per cent of its holding in WTTIL

# The company, which has 39,000 towers, is valued at around Rs 19,500 crore

# WTTIL will announce a new name, logo and branding for the company today

WL Ross has been active in India. It made an equity invest in low-cost carrier SpiceJet when the company was in financial trouble. When the airline started making profits, WL Ross sold its stake to Kalanithi Maran. Ross is believed to have made money from the deal and played a key role in turning around the company. However, in case of WTTIL, if the deal goes through, this will be an investment in a company, which is not under any financial distress.

This would be one of the many tower deals which have happened this year. The Rs 8,400-crore sale of Aircel's tower business to GTL Infrastructure kicked off telecom tower deals in January this year. Essar Telecom sold its entire tower business to American Tower Corporation in February for Rs 2,100 crore. In March, Quippo-WTTIL bought the tower assets of Tata Teleservices Maharashtra for Rs 1,318 crore. A couple of months before, the country's third-largest telecom company, Reliance Communications, merged its tower business, Reliance Infratel, with GTL Infrastructure in a cash and stock deal. The entity, which has around 82,500 towers, is looking at divesting 10-15 per cent to a strategic investor, who will bring in equity.