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Viom Networks Looks For PE Investment [DealCurry (India)](DealCurry (India) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Telecom tower company, Viom Networks is looking for PE partners to fund its expansion plans, BS states. In 2009, Quippo Telecom Infrastructure announced its partnership with Tata Teleservices with the merger of their passive infrastructure businesses, resulting in the formation of Viom Networks. The company further strengthened its leadership position with the acquisition of the tower arm of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited in early 2010. Viom has 41,000 towers in the country. Currently Viom has 12% market share while its major competitors, Indus Towers, BSNL/MTNL, RTIL, Bharti Infratel and GTL have 32%, 17%, 14%, 9% and 7% respectively. The company was looking to get listed in December 2011 but had to cancel due to bad market conditions. The company has been working on reducing the expenditure and has brought down the cost of setting up a tower from R25 Lac to R11.5 Lac. At present Tata Teleservices owns 54% stake in Viom . The Tatas are expected to bring down their stake after the IPO and/or share sale to PEs. Recently, Tata group and Norwegian telecom major Telenor were in talks about a possible strategic alliance that could include merger or sale of equity in Tata Teleservices. In December 2011, Tata Teleservices and SREI group are planning to sell their stake in Viom Networks and are in talks with Sumitomo Corporation of Japan and private equity company TPG Partners. Viom Networks had received an investment of R1400 Cr from Macquarie SBI Infrastructure Fund for a stake sale of roughly 11%, in August 2010. Analysts expect a steady increase in tower demand from wireless operators to handle voice traffic growth, especially in the smaller category and under-penetrated B and C circles, as well as handle the increasing data volumes in urban circles. As the majority of companies in this business have met their coverage requirement, companies like Viom are focusing on optimising their costs. Tower companies are focusing on loading existing towers instead of building new ones. Analysts expect the increase in tower demand to be met by an increase in tenancies, as opposed to one in tower count. Last December, Bharti Infratel has raised R651.7 Cr from 18 anchor investors including Morgan Stanley and Sundaram MF, ahead of the R4,500 Cr IPO. (c) 2013 EagleEye Research & Media Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |