Airtel Africa, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, on Tuesday said it is selling 1,424 telecommunication towers in Madagascar and Malawi to Helios Towers plc for around $119 million.

The transactions, comprising two separate agreements, one in respect of each jurisdiction, are subject to customary closing conditions including required regulatory approvals and are not inter-conditional on each other, Bharti Airtel said in a regulatory filing.

The transactions are expected to close in or around the fourth quarter of this calendar year.

The Group’s tower portfolios in these two markets comprise 1,229 towers.

The aggregate gross consideration for the transactions is expected to be around $108 million. Under the terms of the transactions, the Group’s Airtel Africa’s subsidiaries will continue to develop, maintain and operate their equipment on the towers under separate lease arrangements, largely made in local currencies, with the purchaser.

“In addition, as part of the transactions, the Group has agreed to build to suit commitments with the purchaser for an additional 195 sites across Madagascar and Malawi over the three years following completion, for which a further $11 million of consideration is payable,” Airtel said.

Inks MoU

In addition, Airtel Africa has entered into exclusive Memorandum of Understanding agreements for the potential sale of its tower assets in Chad and Gabon to the purchaser (the “proposed transactions”).

The proposed transactions are subject to the signing of definitive legal agreements for sale, including customary closing conditions such as required regulatory approvals.

“With these latest tower transactions we continue to demonstrate strong execution of our asset monetisation programme. These transactions will also help to improve the mix of our debt and increase its tenor through long term leases, which are largely payable in local currency by our operating entities, while reducing foreign currency debt of the Group,” Raghunath Mandava, Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Africa, said.

It is envisaged that the proposed transactions will also incorporate lease arrangements with the purchaser and build to suit commitments in Chad and Gabon. The proposed transactions are not inter-conditional and are expected to close before the end of our fiscal year 2022, the company said.

The value of the gross assets the subject of the transactions as of March 31, 2020 was $93.7 million and the profits before tax for the year to March 31, 2020 attributable to the assets the subject of the transactions are $3.3 million, it added.

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