Leading Asian regional integrated telecommunications infrastructure services company edotco Group has announced a major acquisition that, it says, strengthens its aspiration to be a top five towerco in the world and cements its home market leadership position as the largest independent tower company in Malaysia, where it is headquartered.
Through its subsidiary edotco Malaysia, edotco Group has entered into a conditional share sale agreement (SSA) with Touch Group Holding to acquire 100 percent of its subsidiary Touch Mindscape and its subsidiary companies. The SSA for the entire shares of Touch Mindscape is for a total purchase consideration of RM1.7 billion (about $404.5 million).
Touch Mindscape constructs and leases telecommunication towers to telcos. It also operates fibre optic trunks for lease. This transaction enables edotco to increase its tower market share in Malaysia from approximately 21 percent to 25 percent.
Touch Mindscape is described by edotco as a towerco with a sizeable and high-quality telecommunication infrastructure portfolio. It calls this acquisition an opportunity that strengthens edotco’s position as a leading independent telecommunications infrastructure provider in Malaysia and Asia.
In fact, according to edotco Malaysia Managing Director Wan Zainal Adileen, the proposed acquisition strategically adds a portfolio of approximately 1,000 tenanted towers to edotco’s operations in Malaysia, where it is already providing co-location to major mobile network operators in the country.
He added, “This opportunity expands edotco’s existing presence by significantly scaling up our tower portfolio in the three states of Pahang, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka with very limited overlap.” The Touch Mindscape tower portfolio also includes towers in the key strategic locations of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Perak and Kedah.
The acquisition is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. Upon completion, it will grow edotco’s owned and managed portfolio of towers to over 43,000 towers across its core markets of Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines and Laos.
The proposed acquisition also allows edotco to secure a strategic fibre network.
