American Tower Boosts India Footprint With $1.2 Billion Deal

  • Picks up Vodafone, Idea towers as merging carriers shed assets
  • Valuation ‘on low side’ as tenancy dropping, Bernstein says

Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg

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American Tower Corp. agreed to buy mobile-phone towers from Vodafone Group Plc’s Indian business and Idea Cellular Ltd., boosting its infrastructure in the country by a third, as the merging carriers sell off assets to raise cash for debt repayment amid a scathing price war.

The Boston-based real estate investment trust agreed to pay 78.5 billion rupees ($1.2 billion) for about 20,000 towers owned by the carriers in a deal that is expected to be completed in the first half of 2018, American Tower said in a statementBloomberg Terminal Monday. The assets will probably generate about $320 million in property revenue and $120 million in gross profits for their first full year under ATC, according to the statement.