Ascend Telecom to merge ITIL with itself
In an instance of consolidation in the capital-intensive telecom towers space, Ascend Telecom today announced the merger of India Telecom Infra Limited (ITIL) with itself to create an entity with 4,000 towers spread across the country.
March 03, 2011 / 10:44 IST
In an instance of consolidation in the capital-intensive telecom towers space, Ascend Telecom today announced the merger of India Telecom Infra (ITIL) with itself to create an entity with 4,000 towers spread across the country.
"The merger will create one of India''s strongest independent telecom tower operators with a nationwide footprint, approximately 4,000 towers and an average tenancy ratio of 1.6x," a release issued by private equity fund, New Silk Route, which owns Ascend Telecom, said.ITIL is jointly owned by Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) and south-based TVS group''s TVS Interconnect Systems.
However, finer details of the transaction, including the value, were not immediately known."The companies will soon be proceeding to file a scheme of amalgamation with the High Courts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to merge ITIL into Ascend," the release said.Between them, the two companies currently serve all the mobile operators in India like Idea, BSNL, Vodafone, Tata Teleservices and Aircel, among others.The deal comes within months of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infratel calling off a Rs 50,000-crore deal to merge with GTL Infrastructure in September last year over issues regarding valuation. Early last year, GTL had acquired 17,000 towers of Aircel for Rs 8,400-crore. Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
