BOSTON & NEW DELHI -- (Business Wire)
American Tower Corporation (American Tower) (NYSE: AMT) and Bharti
Airtel Limited (BSE: 532454) today announced that they have entered into
a definitive agreement, through Bharti Airtel Limited’s subsidiary
company, Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV (Airtel), for the
sale of over 4,800 of Airtel’s communications towers in Nigeria. Airtel
will be the anchor tenant on the portfolio under a lease with a ten-year
initial term.
“We are pleased to announce the launch of our operations in Nigeria
while expanding our relationship with Airtel, one of the leading
multinational operators in the world,” said Jim Taiclet, Chairman,
President and Chief Executive Officer of American Tower. “With the
largest population and economy in Africa and relatively underdeveloped
wireless infrastructure, we view Nigeria as a tremendous growth
opportunity. Further, we expect this investment to support our long-term
objective of generating double-digit AFFO per share growth for our
stockholders.”
Commenting on the development, Christian de Faria, MD and Chief
Executive Officer of Bharti Airtel Africa, said, “Nigeria is the largest
mobile market in Africa and a key one for Airtel. This agreement, which
is part of our stated philosophy of promoting infrastructure sharing,
will provide us with considerable cost efficiencies and at the same time
allows us to sharpen our focus on the customer. American Tower has a
proven track record in passive infrastructure management and we look
forward to benefitting from the best practices from all other countries
it operates in."
The agreement will allow Airtel to focus on its core business and
customers, enable it to deleverage through debt reduction and will
significantly reduce its on-going capital expenditures on passive
infrastructure in Nigeria.
American Tower and Airtel expect to close the acquisition during the
first half of 2015, subject to customary closing conditions and
regulatory approval.
Additional information regarding the Nigerian wireless industry, tower
sector and this transaction will be available on American Tower’s
Investor Relations website, www.americantower.com.
About American Tower
American Tower is a leading independent owner, operator and developer of
wireless and broadcast communications real estate with a global
portfolio of approximately 70,000 communications sites. For more
information about American Tower, please visit www.americantower.com.
About Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company
with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in
New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 4 mobile service
providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's
product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile
commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH,
enterprise services including national & international long distance
services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G
wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 305
million customers across its operations at the end of October 2014. To
know more please visit, www.airtel.com.
Cautionary Language Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements about future events and
expectations, or “forward-looking statements,” all of which are
inherently uncertain. We have based those forward-looking statements on
management’s current expectations and assumptions and not on historical
facts. Examples of these statements include, but are not limited to,
statements regarding our expectations of the acquisition of certain
towers, anticipated closing dates and the anticipated accretive impact
of the acquisition. These statements involve a number of risks and
uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those indicated in such
forward-looking statements include market conditions for corporate debt
generally, for the securities of telecommunications companies and for
our indebtedness in particular. For other important factors that may
cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in our
forward-looking statements, we refer you to the information contained in
Item 1A of our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 under
the caption “Risk Factors” and in other filings we make with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update
the information contained in this press release to reflect subsequently
occurring events or circumstances.
Adjusted Funds From Operations (AFFO) is a non-GAAP financial measure.
For more information, see our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September
30, 2014 under the captions “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Non-GAAP Financial
Measures” and “– Results of Operations.”
Contacts:
Bharti Airtel Contact:
Raza Khan
raza.khan@bharti.in
or
Ashutosh
Sharma
Ashutosh.s@bharti.in
or
American
Tower Contact:
Leah Stearns, +1 617-375-7500
Vice President,
Investor Relations and Treasurer
Source: American Tower Corporation
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