Axiata’s tower business Edotco is partnering with investment firm Dawood Hercules to obtain Pakistan Mobile Communications’ tower assets for $940 million.
Edotco Pakistan’s subsidiary Tanzanite reached the deal for its parent firm acquire Deodar, the tower unit of Pakistan Mobile Communications, along with its portfolio of more than 13,000 towers. Edotco recently obtained 700 of Tanzanite’s towers in Pakistan, boosting its tower holding across six markets to 26,000.
The deal will be financed via an equity split of $174 million by Edotco and $166 million by Dawood Hercules for each of their stakes, along with $600 million in external local debt. In addition, Dawood Hercules is taking a 45% equity stake in Edotco Pakistan, with the parent firm retaining the remaining 55%.
Closing this deal will result in Edotco becoming the world’s eighth largest independent tower firm, and the second largest that operates in multiple markets.
Edotco CEO Suresh Sidhu said: “We are pleased to be able to consolidate our expansion into Pakistan with this acquisition. The acquisition of Deodar is a critical part of our growth strategy and ambition to position Edotco as the leading independent telecommunications infrastructure services provider in Asia.”
Branded as Jazz, Pakistan Mobile Communications leads the country’s mobile market with 53 million connections, giving it a 37% share.
