Passive assets for sale, active assets to scale
Qatari telecom operator Ooredoo is busy planning to sell off its telecoms towers and other passive property in an auction to be held later this year, CEO Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo told Bloomberg TV. The prospect of investing in tower companies has excited interest among a number of infrastructure equity investors, as well as Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund and specialists such as American Tower Corp.
The firm has already been contacted by at least 50 regional and international bidders and is currently in the final round of talks, said Fakhroo, who said the company is hoping to announce something “before the end of the first half of this year.”
In September Ooredoo announced a plan to shift to an asset-light model, which would involve divestment of its portfolio of almost 20,000 towers. The state-controlled operator last year sold its Myanmar business for an enterprise value of $576 million and is also considering carving out its data centre unit.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, American Tower, IHS Holding Ltd. and Helios Towers Plc were among suitors weighing a bid for the tower assets, which could be valued at $3 billion to $5 billion.
Ooredoo is committed to investing up to $1 billion in its data centres over the next five years to grow its capacity, Fakhroo said. “We’re bringing in investors to help us accelerate this catalyst of growth.”
Data centres typically attract strong interest from investors as they are seen to generate stable returns and growth amid increasing reliance on technology. Unlike the potential towers sale, Ooredoo plans to invest in the data centres by potentially bringing in external investors, Bloomberg reported in October.
This week the telco began clearing its debts in order to avoid being stung by interest rate hikes, repaying nearly $1 billion of bonds and $500 million of a revolving credit facility. This was the largest debt repayment in its history. “We have no major debt maturity until 2025, so we think we are extremely well-positioned to weather any future rate hikes,” said Fakhroo.