Bharti Airtel Approves a Merger To Create Largest Tower Company Outside China

Bharti Airtel has approved the merger of Indus Tower Ltd with Bharti Infratel Ltd to create the largest tower company outside China.

In a stock exchange filing, Bharti Airtel said that the merger deal involves a ratio of 1,565 shares of Bharti Infratel for every one Indus Towers share. Indus Towers Ltd is valued at $10.8 billion (Rs 715 billion) in the deal.

The merged entity would control over one-third of the tower industry in India and a market share of over 35 percent. Its tenancy ratio would be close to 2.25 times which is more than the industry average of 2 times. Tenancy ratio is the number of tenants (operators) who have placed their antennae on the tower.

Both Bharati Infratel and Vodafone have a 42 percent ownership in Indus Towers at present. Idea Cellular group and US-based Providence own 11.15 percent and 4.85 percent of Indus Towers respectively.