Ooredoo's Indonesian unit close to selling 4,000 towers to Digital Colony: sources

Jakarta

OOREDOO QPSC's Indonesian unit PT Indosat is nearing a deal to sell about 4,000 towers to Digital Colony, said people familiar with the matter.

The companies are working on the details of a transaction that could be announced as early as this week, they said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

A deal could be valued at more than US$700 million, they said.

Digital Colony is planning to purchase the tower assets through Edgepoint Infrastructure, a partnership it recently formed with former Edotco Group chief executive officer Suresh Sidhu, the people said.

An agreement would come weeks after Indosat said it was in the early stage of exploring the sale of about 4,000 towers, without naming any potential buyers. Talks could still face delays or even fall apart, the people said.

Shares in Indosat fell 0.8 per cent in early trading in Jakarta on Tuesday, giving the company a market value of about US$2.4 billion.

Digital infrastructure, including telecom towers, data centres and fibre, has become a hot spot for investments amid global technology rollouts.

Digital Colony has been an active player in the consolidation of telecom infrastructure in Asia and Edgepoint could amass 20,000 to 50,000 towers in the next five to seven years, a person familiar with the matter said in November.

Qatar's Ooredoo, which owns a 65 per cent stake in Indosat, said in December it was in talks with CK Hutchison Holdings to combine their Indonesian wireless phone businesses, as part of a consolidation to fend off competition in South-east Asia's biggest market by subscribers. BLOOMBERG