Another day, another possible telecom tower deal, this time in Indonesia (again). According to Bloomberg, two shareholders that own more than 50% of PT Tower Bersama Infrastructure are now considering whether or not to sell their stakes.

The report, which quoted unidentified sources, said private equity firm Provident Capital Indonesia and PT Wahana Anugerah Sejahtera, a subsidiary of investment company PT Saratoga Investama Sedaya, have asked banks for proposals on a possible transaction for their stakes.

PT Wahana Anugerah Sejahtera owns 34% of Tower Bersama's outstanding shares while Provident Capital holds 22%, according to Bloomberg. The news agency said the stakes are worth about 43.5 trillion rupiah (US$3 billion) at Monday's closing price and noted that Tower Bersama has a market value of about $5.3 billion.

Figure 1: Tower time: Around every corner is another man trying to sell you a tower. Or so it seems.
(Source: Pixabay)

In its first-quarter results for 2021, the Tower Bersama group said it had 32,612 tenants and 16,501 telecommunication sites as of the end of March. In April, it then acquired 3,000 sites from PT Inti Bangun Sejahtera. Fitch Ratings said it expects Tower Bersama's market share to improve to 20% in 2021 from 17% in 2020 "as it expands faster than the industry average."

The group said its principal business is leasing space for antennas and other equipment for wireless signal transmission at tower sites under long-term lease agreements. It also provides telcos with access to its Distributed Antenna System (DAS) networks in shopping malls and office buildings in major urban areas.

Likely buyers?

PT Tower Bersama Infrastructure is the holding company of the Tower Bersama Group. It was established in 2004 and listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange on October 26, 2010. It describes itself as one of the two leading independent tower companies in Indonesia.

Fitch Ratings has also indicated that it expects the local tower industry to consolidate, with Indonesia's two largest tower companies – Tower Bersama and market leader PT Profesional Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Protelindo) – increasing their market share "as telcos monetize towers and smaller tower companies exit due to a lack of scale to compete effectively."

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On LinkedIn, Protolindo said it owns and operates over 18,500 towers in Indonesia.

Also worth noting here is PT EPID Menara AssetCo, also known as Edgepoint Indonesia, which recently acquired more than 4,200 towers from Indosat Ooredoo.

PT EPID Menara Assetco is an Indonesian subsidiary of Edgepoint Singapore, which is wholly owned by Digital Colony – a $32 billion infrastructure investment company linked to Marc Ganzi's Colony Capital investment firm.

In June 2021, Digital Colony indicated that it will operate under the DigitalBridge brand in future as part of a wider rebrand of the Colony Capital group.

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— Anne Morris, contributing editor, special to Light Reading