Global investors invest $1 billion in Bharti Infratel

Global investors Temasek Holdings, The Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), Goldman Sachs, Macquarie, AIF Capital, Citigroup and India Equity Partners (IEP), will jointly invest $1 billion in Bharti Airtel's wholly owned subsidiary Bharti Infratel with Temasek being the largest investor.

The enterprise valuation has been agreed to be in the range of $10 to $12.5 billion, and the final valuation, within this range, will be determined on the basis of Bharti Infratel's actual operating performance in FY 2008-09.

This placement highlights the confidence of leading global investors in the Indian telecom sector, which is now the fastest growing telecom market in the world.

Bharti Infratel owns close to 20,000 sites and holds approximately 42 per cent of the stake in Indus Towers, the recently announced joint venture between Bharti, Vodafone and Idea, which has over 70,000 sites. (See: Bharti, Idea, Vodafone Essar to form independent tower company)

Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers will provide passive infrastructure services to all wireless telecom operators in India on a non-discriminatory basis. Sharing of passive infrastructure results in capex and opex savings and higher capital efficiency for all wireless operators, enabling quicker roll out of services especially in rural areas, thus benefiting millions of people across India.