American Tower Corporation (ATC) has acquired 51% stake in Viom Networks, a joint venture between Tata Teleservices (TTSL) and Quippo (part of the Srei Group), reports Voicendata. The deal is pegged to be at Rs 19,000- 20,000 crore, including a debt of Rs 6,500 crore. ATC will continue to get tower leasing contracts from TTSL on a preferential basis, and the combined entity will own 55,769 towers. The transaction is expected to close in mind 2016. According to an Indian Express report, Viom has a customer market share of 11.30% and a revenue market share of 14.80%, while ATC has 3.49% and 3.7% respectively. For quarter ended June 30, Viom generated ~ $770 million in rental and management revenue and $323 million in gross margin. Post the deal, ATC’s 14,000 Indian towers will be merged with Viom. ATC will provide communications infrastructure for advanced wireless technologies (3G and 4G) throughout India. Viom was formed in 2009, and TTSL owned a majority stake of 54%, Srei Group held 18.5%, while the rest was owned together by SBI Macquarie, Funderburk Mauritius, IDFC Infra Fund and GIC (Indivest). Srei held management control of Viom and will exit the venture selling all of its 18.5% to ATC. GIC Investments and Oman Investment Authority which held single digit stakes will also exit the company. TTSL will lower its stake to 30%, IDFC Infra Fund to 3.2%, while SBI Macquire will retain its 11% stake. In March last year, Reliance Jio Infocomm inked a tower infrastructure sharing…
