The American Tower Company (ATC) has restarted negotiations to buy a majority stake in Essar Telecom Infrastructure Private Limited (ETIPL).

The American Tower Company (ATC) has restarted negotiations to buy a majority stake in Essar Telecom Infrastructure Private Limited (ETIPL). According to sources, ATC has already signed a non-binding term sheet for due diligence and has valued ETIPL’s 4,000 towers at $450 million. The move comes three months after talks between ATC and ETIPL failed over valuation differences.

Under the new offer, ATC is valuing Essar’s portfolio at nearly Rs 5.5 million per tower. This is higher than the Rs 4.1 million per tower paid by ATC to XCEL Telecom for the latter’s 1,700 towers in March 2009. Meanwhile, five private equity funds including Apax Partners and New Silk Route are learnt to be in the race to pick up a minority stake in ETIPL.