BBN Report
Sale and leaseback deal signed with Edge Point Indonesia
DOHA (Qatar)/March 30-2021: Ooredoo on Tuesday (March 30) announced that its Indonesian operating company, PT Indosat Tbk. (Indosat Ooredoo), has signed a sale and leaseback agreement with PT EPID Menara AssetCo (Edge Point Indonesia) for more than 4,200 telecommunications towers, according to an Ooredoo official statement.
The transaction is expected to close in Q2 2021 subject to customary conditions, including shareholder approval by Indosat Ooredoo at an EGM, which is planned to be held on May 6.
PT EPID Menara AssetCo is an Indonesian subsidiary of Edge Point Singapore, which is wholly owned by Digital Colony, a leading global digital infrastructure investor with extensive experience in owning and operating cellular towers.
Indosat Ooredoo has agreed to sell this portfolio of towers in a transaction valued at $750 million, including a supplementary offer, making it one of the largest deals of its kind in Asia.
The sale will unlock capital to create value for shareholders and continue to build Indosat Ooredoo’s strong growth momentum through improvements to network performance and the launch of innovative new digital solutions to enhance the customer experience.
To be asset-light
The sale is part of Ooredoo Group’s strategy to move to a more efficient and flexible asset light model and unlock the trapped value of its infrastructure portfolio.
Prior to this deal, Ooredoo had a global portfolio of approximately 27,000 owned towers, representing an infrastructure portfolio of significant value for the Group. Monetising these assets to create more value for both shareholders and customers is a key focus of Ooredoo’s current strategy.
Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo (seen in the picture), Managing Director of Ooredoo Group, said the new deal by Indosat Ooredoo on the sale and leaseback agreement with Edge Point Indonesia, aligns perfectly with the company’s new strategy and its focus on creating more value for shareholders and customers.
“This strategy incorporates a shift towards an asset-light model that will help us unlock significant capital and enable us to focus on our core mission of delivering outstanding digital and enterprise services to our customer base.” Fakhroo said.
Edge Point Indonesia was declared the winning bidder of a competitive tender process conducted by Indosat Ooredoo.
Indosat Ooredoo will lease back space on the towers for a period of 10 years to meet its on-going requirements. President Director and Chief Executive Officer of Indosat Ooredoo, Ahmad Al Neama, said that the deal furthers the company’s strategy to create more value from its infrastructure assets.
“The deal marks the third and final sale of assets from our high-quality tower portfolio and continues our transition into a leading digital telecoms company. We are confident the leaseback agreement, with its attractive terms, will continue to meet our on-going tower needs, while the capital that we have unlocked will provide further fuel to power our growth momentum.” Al Neama said.
