Indonesia's Tower Bersama Infrastructure has secured financing worth nearly $1.8 billion to bid in XL Axiata's tower sale.
The company has lined up $1 billion in loans and secured shareholder and regulatory approval to issue bonds worth around $780 million, finance director Helmi Yusan Santoso told the Jakarta Post.
Tower Bersama will seek to acquire a number of XL Axiata towers through open bidding, but does not yet know the details of the offer, he said.
According to Helmi, the tower operator will only take part in the auction if it is a profitable prospect – XL plans to lease back the towers after the sale – and the price bid will also depend on individual towers' physical condition, tenants, revenue and leasing period .
Tower Bersama currently has around 9,000 telecom towers. The company acquired around 2,500 towers from Indosat in 2012, paying around $165,000 per tower
XL Axiata confirmed plans for a tower sale earlier this month. The company is aiming to raise funds to help pay down debt accrued from the $865 million acquisition of Axis Telecom in February.
Tower Bersama and fellow tower operator Solusi Tunas Pratama have both already announced an intention to bid for the assets. XL has not yet announced how many towers will be put up for sale.