By Telecom
Lead Team: Indosat, a mobile service provider in Indonesia, has sold 2,500
telecommunication towers to PT Tower Bersama Infrastructure and will lease back
the towers in a $519 million deal.
The deal is
the first major telecom tower sale since the Indonesian government in 2010
restricted foreigners from owning a stake in a tower company. Indosat is 65
percent owned by Qatar Telecom.
The deal will
enable us to cash in some of our non-core assets with an attractive value and
the proceeds can be invested to its core business,” said Harry Sasongko, chief
executive of Indosat.
Earlier, Tower
Bersama CEO Hardi Wijaya Liong said in a statement that 
the
deal is expected to be concluded in the second quarter of the year. Once the
sale agreement is signed, Tower Bersama will pay $406 million in cash and newly
issued shares of the company and Indosat will likely own a stake of around 5
percent in Tower Bersama after the rights issue.
Both companies
said that Indosat will lease all the 2,500 towers from Tower Bersama for a
minimum of 10 years period.
Tower Bersama
will pay $406 million upfront in a combination of cash and newly issued shares,
both firms said.
Last year,
Indosat launched an initial sale of 4,000 towers after several delays due to
valuation concerns and the reluctance of Qatar Telecom to sell the tower assets.
Tower Bersama
is controlled by Indonesia-based private equity firm Saratoga Capital, which
was founded by Edwin Soeryadjaya and Sandiaga Uno.
