Bharti Infratel-Indus Towers Merger Deadline Extended

On Monday, Bharti Infratel announced that the company's board has decided to extend the deadline to close the deal on its merger with Indus Towers Limited to 24 April 2020. It also said that the final decision on the implementation of the deal, that has already received FDI approval will be subject to the assessment of the impact of AGR crisis on the telecom sector.

Its earlier deadline for the deal was set at 24 February.

Shares of Bharti Infratel were trading 6.5 percent lower in the afternoon session on Monday.

"Since the other actions/conditions precedent to be fulfilled for the Scheme to become effective cannot be completed by the extended Long Stop Date i.e. February 24, 2020, the Board of Directors have further extended the Long Stop Date till April 24, 2020, subject to agreement on closing adjustments and other conditions precedent for closing, with each party retaining the right to terminate and withdraw the scheme," the company said.

"The final decision to implement the scheme will be taken by the Board keeping in mind the best interest of the Company and its stakeholders including the assessment of the current crisis facing the telecom industry and the extent of its impact on the Company's major customers," it added.

Indus Towers is a joint venture between Bharti Infratel (42%), UK-based Vodafone Group Plc (42%), Vodafone Idea (11.15%) and US-based private equity firm Providence (4.85%). Bharti Infratel is a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel.

The merger, which was announced back in April 2018, received DoT's (Department of Telecom) approval last week.

Bharti Infratel's board has previously extended the merger's deadline twice (on 24 October and 24 December 2019) to secure more time.

The merger would create the world's second-largest tower company as the combined entity will own more than 163,000 towers, second only to China Tower.