Bharti Infratel, a subsidiary of telecom operator Bharti Airtel, will use the proceeds of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to set up 4,813 new telecom transmission towers and upgradation its existing ones.
The company was looking at raising about Rs 5,000 crore through the IPO and had filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) last week. The public offer would constitute an offer of 18.89 crore shares, comprising a fresh issue of 14.62 crore equity shares by the company and an offer for sale of 4.26 crore shares by existing shareholders.
It has proposed to use about Rs 1,086 crore of the proceeds for the installation of the 4,813 towers across seven circles.
The new towers would be a combination of ground based towers and roof top towers.The new towers would be set up in FY14, FY15 and FY16, it said in the filing.
Bharti Infratel had also proposed to deploy about Rs 1,214 crore of the net proceeds for upgradation and replacement of existing towers. This is to enhance capacity for additional sharing of towers. As of June 30, Bharti Infratel, which holds a 42 per cent stake in independent tower firm Indus Towers, owns 33,446 towers across 11 circles.Indus Towers has 1,09,539 towers across 15 circles.
Vodafone India holds a 42 per cent stake in Indus Towers, while Aditya Birla Telecom (an Aditya Birla group company) owns the remaining 16 per cent. Private equity investors including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, Macquarie Group, Citigroup, Investment Corporation of Dubaiand AIF Capital own a combined 13 percent stake in Bharti Infratel.
