RComm unit stake sale draws U.S. interest - sources

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Reliance Communications has revived a plan to sell a 51 percent stake in its tower unit, attracting early interest from U.S. private equity firms as well as domestic and American industry players, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Reliance Communications, India's fourth-biggest mobile phone carrier and headed by billionaire Anil Ambani, is looking at a valuation of about $4 billion for the unit, which has about 45,000 mobile phone masts, the sources said.

The private equity firms showing interest included Blackstone , The Carlyle Group and Providence Equity Partners, while from the industry side Bharti Infratel and American Tower Corp were other potential suitors, according to the sources, who requested anonymity as the information was not public.

 

A Reliance Communications spokesman declined to comment. The company said in a regulatory filing in May that it was looking to monetise its tower assets by March 2016.

"We keep evaluating options on an ongoing basis and are open to opportunities provided there is a strategic fit," a Bharti group spokesman said in a statement to Reuters.

Blackstone and Carlyle declined comment. American Tower did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Providence Equity could not be immediately reached for comment.

(Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee and Aman Shah; Additional reporting by Karen Rebelo; Writing by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)