edotco Group Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Axiata Group Berhad, today announced that they will not be moving forward with the acquisition of 13,000 towers from Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited (PMCL) in Pakistan.
The tower company said the transaction was subject to a number of conditions and terminated due to the non-fulfilment of the conditions precedent to the SPA within the stipulated timeframe, in particular regulatory approval for the resulting change of control contemplated under the SPA.
In August 2017, edotco, through Tanzanite, now incorporated as a subsidiary of edotco Pakistan Private Limited (edotco PK) and Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited (DH Corp), a leading listed investment conglomerate in Pakistan, entered into an agreement with PMCL to acquire its tower subsidiary, Deodar Private Limited (Deodar) and its portfolio of over 13,000 tower assets.
Tanzanite Tower Private Limited (TTPL) was acquired by edotco in June 2017. It has a portfolio of approximately 700 towers in Pakistan.
As part of the proposed partnership, DH Corp will be investing a 45% equity stake in edotco PK with the remaining 55% control stake to be held by edotco. DH Corp, listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, with a market capitalisation of approximately USD600 million, is one of the country’s largest conglomerates with a varied business portfolio which includes, fertilizers, foods, chemical storage & handling, trading, energy – including independent power production, renewables and petrochemicals. The total transaction consideration for the proposed acquisition is USD940 million, which will be funded through a combination of external local debt of USD600 million and an equity split of USD174 million by edotco and USD166 million by DH Corp for their respective stakes.
Suresh Sidhu, Chief Executive Office of edotco Group, said “We do not foresee this affecting our business goals and aspirations. We are confident in the potential of the growing market in Pakistan and are committed to the existing operations there. We continue to develop our pipeline of opportunities into Pakistan as well as into other markets in South and South East Asia and are confident we will be able to meet our goals for business growth”
Arif Hussain, Country Managing Director for edotco Pakistan, added “We have seen strong progress in Pakistan since our first acquisition here and business continues to grow with new orders for sites as well as high demand for adjacent opportunities such as energy solutions. We remain focused on building the business in Pakistan”.
edotco operates and manages a regional portfolio of over 27,000 towers across core markets of Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan with 16,391 towers directly operated by edotco and a further 10,821 towers managed through a range of services provided.
