Indonesia’s XL Axiata has sold off nearly 2,800 towers with an estimated value of IDR4.05 trillion ($296 million) to alleviate its debt burden.
The buyers were two local firms - Profesional Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Protelindo) and Centratama Menara Indonesia (CMI) – which respectively acquired 1,728 and 1,050 towers. The latter firm operates 2,124 towers in Indonesia and anticipates an extra IDR215 billion annual revenue from its latest purchase.
XL operates 4,400 towers in Indonesia, and has been looking to divest some of this holding in order to cut debt and generate investment funding. After these newest deals close, the operator will still own around 1,600 towers. Under the agreements, the companies are also leasing land owned by XL.
The tower firm is majority owned (66.5%) by Malaysia’s Axiata Group, and has form on selling off its infrastructure. Solusi Tunas Pratama acquired 3,500 towers from XL in 2015 for IDR5.6 trillion, while in 2017 Portland snapped up 2,500 of XL’s towers for IDR3.6 trillion.
