Private equity firms are among the companies eyeing a controlling stake in Reliance Communications’ tower business, it emerged on Friday.
In response to growing speculation, the Indian operator revealed in May that it was in talks with several banks about monetising the tower and fibre assets held by its Reliance Infratel subsidiary.
In a stock exchange filing at the time, RCom said it aimed to complete the process during its current fiscal year, which ends on 31 March 2016.
Unnamed sources cited by Reuters on Friday claimed that Blackstone, The Carlyle Group, and Providence Equity Partners have shown interest, as have tower firms Bharti Infratel and American Tower.
According to the report, Reliance Communications values its tower business – which has a footprint of 45,000 masts – at US$4 billion.
The sources said the telco aims to sell a 51% stake in the unit.
RCom is not the only Indian operator looking to cash in on its towers.
In May, sources claimed that Idea Cellular is looking to raise 75.8 billion rupees ($1.2 billion) by offloading 11,000 towers.
Reports at the time alleged that Idea had attracted interest from Malaysia’s Axiata, Bharti Infratel and American Tower.
