Blackstone, Carlyle interested in Reliance Infratel - report

Blackstone and Carlyle may compete against a consortium comprised of Apax Partners - which was also approached last month - and Advent International. Bids for Reliance Infratel, which owns more than 50,000 mobile towers, are tipped to value the entire company at $4 billion or more.

Sources told The Times that private equity investors may place bids valuing the company between $3.5-4 billion.

Strategic investors American Tower, Crown Castle International, Viom Networks and Etisalat were also cited as potential bidders as of last month.

This is the latest attempt by Reliance Communications to divest a stake in the company. Last year, it sought to sell a 26% stake without success and an attempt to spin off the company in a separate public listing also failed.

Reliance Communications put its tower operator back up for sale in May. The company later said it received several informal offers, but these were rejected on the grounds of valuation differences.

Reliance Infratel has reported eight consecutive quarters of falling margins, and as of last month, its stock was down 48% for the year. These losses have been attributed to competition in the market driving prices down, coupled with high operating costs.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• South Asia
• Technology
• The Carlyle Group
• The Blackstone Group
• Apax Partners Hong Kong
• Advent International