Veon Limited, the Dutch-based operator of telecommunications networks, is close to selling its tower assets in Pakistan to a consortium comprising local player TPL Corporation and UAE-based TASC Towers Holding Ltd., in possibly the country’s biggest deal in over ten years, reported Bloomberg.
Talks on the sale of Veon’s 10,000-12,000 towers in Pakistan could be announced in the coming weeks, with the deal potentially worth more than $600 million.
It has been indicated that the TPL-TASC group has emerged as the most likely buyer after beating out rival bidders including other telecom companies.
If the towers are sold, it will be Pakistan’s largest transaction since 2011. Deliberations are ongoing, and the companies may still decide against a deal. Veon CEO Kaan Terzioglu said in an interview last month, without naming a bidder, that the divestment was “very close to completion”.
According to the report, a unit of Saudi Telecom Co. and Pakistani conglomerate Engro were also among the bidders for the assets.
Buyer Profile
Pakistan’s TPL announced in September that it had formed a strategic partnership with TASC to bid for an unnamed telecom tower company.
TPL’s operations include GPS tracking, insurance, venture capital, and security services. Its real estate arm TPL Properties Ltd. raised approximately $697 million rupees ($3 million) in an initial public offering in Karachi in 2016. TPL REIT Management Co. is attempting to raise up to $500 million through a private real estate investment trust, which could be one of the country’s largest fundraisings in history.
Veon began as VimpelCom, one of Russia’s first cellular phone providers, in 1992 in Moscow. Since then, it has grown into a Dutch-domiciled telecommunications behemoth with over 217 million customers across nine countries. It is Pakistan’s largest telecom operator.
Veon sold over 15,000 towers in Russia to Service-Telecom LLC last year for approximately $970 million. Terzioglu told Bloomberg News in August that the company has approximately 30,000 more towers to sell and is in discussions with prospective buyers in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine.
