Bharti Infratel’s board of directors has extended the deadline of its merger with Indus Towers to April 24, 2020. The company has said that the implementation of the deal will depend on impact of the current AGR crisis.
Earlier, Bharti Infratel, in a regulatory filing had stated that it had received and foreign direct investment (FDI) approval for merger with Indus Towers. The deal now needs to be cleared by the National Company Law Tribunal-Chandigarh. Following this, the deal will then be taken on record by the Registrar of Companies, a process which will take at least two to three months.
The combination of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers will create a pan-India tower company with over 163,000 towers, operating across all 22 telecom service areas. With this, the combined entity will be the largest tower company in the world outside China.
As per the plans, the combined company, which would fully own the respective businesses of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers, would change its name to Indus Towers Limited and will continue to be listed on Indian stock exchanges.
Bharti Infratel and Vodafone hold 42 per cent stake each in Indus Towers. Further, Vodafone Idea holds 11.15 per cent stake in the mobile tower firm.
