Axiata buys 13,000 Pakistan towers from Jazz for $940 million

Malaysian telco Axiata, via its subsidiary Edotco, is buying the tower business of the largest Pakistani operator Jazz.

The deal involves a whole bunch of holding companies and subsidiaries. Axiata’s tower subsidiary Edotco is technically doing the buying via its Pakistani subsidiary Tanzanite, while Jazz is actually selling its wholly-owned tower company, Deodar. Jazz was formed from the merger of Mobilink and Warid and is co-owned by Veon and Global Telecom Holding. The acquisition is being done in partnership with Pakistani investment group Dawood Hercules. Clear enough?

“We are pleased to be able to consolidate our expansion into Pakistan with this acquisition,” said Suresh Sidhu, CEO of Edotco. “The acquisition of Deodar is a critical part of our growth strategy and ambition to position Edotco as the leading independent telecommunications infrastructure services provider in Asia.”

“This transaction is highly value accretive for Veon and GTH and a further execution of Veon’s asset light strategy,” said Jean-Yves Charlier, CEO of Veon. “It also reflects the start of a long-term partnership with a strong counterparty with significant experience in tower management.”

The $940 million deal is expected to close later this year and the 13,000 sites apparently elevate Edotco to eighth place among the world’s top tower companies. It will presumably then change Jazz to use the towers so this seems to be a classic sell-and-lease-back deal.