Spice to sell telecom towers to Srei

Mobile services provider Spice Communications is set to sell its tower arm to Srei Infrastructure. The deal is estimated to be worth around Rs 500 crore. Following the deal, the towers from Spice may be added to Srei’s subsidiary Quipo Telecom, a stand-alone tower company.

Spice has also said that it was availing loans for up to $400 million from Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corp and another $410 million from China Development Bank for expanding its networks in Karnataka and Punjab, the two circles where it currently offers mobile services.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Quipo to raise $100m from PE funds

Infrastructure services company Quipo, part of the Srei Group, is out to raise around $100 million from private equity funds by early next year. A bulk of this would be used for financing telecom tower business, even as the company plans foray into the development of airport infrastructure.

IDFC PE and GIC Singapore had picked up around 30% stake in the company early this year for around Rs 150 crore. Srei Infrastructure Finance has 15% stake in the company. Quipo Infrastructure Equipment is in the business of leasing and renting out infrastructure equipment to construction, oil and gas and telecom industries.

Currently, around 75% of Quipo’s revenue comes from the construction business. However, over the next couple of years, the bulk of the company’s revenues—around 60%—would come from the telecom tower business and the contribution of the construction business would come down to around 30%. Plans also include venturing into the construction market in the Middle East through a subsidiary company. Quipo already has exposure in oil and energy markets in Russia where it supplies oil rigs and other equipment.

Read more in The Economic Times article