Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management to acquire American Tower’s India business for $2.5 billion

New Delhi: Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management will acquire the Indian operations of American Tower Company (ATC) for an enterprise value of $2 billion. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2024, the company said in a press release.

“We look forward to expanding and enhancing our existing telecom tower portfolio in India to offer a wider range of solutions to our customers and partners. Through strategic acquisitions like ATC India, we remain firmly committed to enhancing Digital connectivity is changing the telecom infrastructure landscape across the region,” said Arpit Agrawal, managing director and head of infrastructure for India and the Middle East at Brookfield.

Telecom tower operator ATC has about 78,000 sites in India. This marks Brookfield’s third acquisition in the Indian telecom space. In 2022, Brookfield acquired a portfolio of 5,000 indoor commercial solutions sites and small cell sites.

The move is aimed at boosting the rollout of 5G, allowing telecom operators to expand their coverage capabilities in hard-to-reach and dense areas. In 2020, the company acquired 1,75,000 towers from Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Limited.

“ATC India will be integrated into DIT, which includes existing telecom assets. The acquired sites are expected to diversify DIT’s revenue and increase touch points with all mobile network operators in India.” Brookfield said in a press briefing.

In India, Brookfield manages approximately US$25 billion in assets across infrastructure, real estate, renewable energy, transformation and private equity.