Reliance unit signs binding deal with Brookfield for Rs. 25,215 crore investment.

Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Ltd. (RIIHL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd., has signed binding agreements with Canadian asset manager Brookfield Infrastructure Partners for an investment of Rs. 25,215 crore.

The companies had announced the deal earlier on July 19, 2019.

Brookfield and its institutional partners will invest in the units to be issued by Tower Infrastructure Trust. After the closure of the deal, the trust will own the entire equity capital of Reliance Jio Infratel Pvt Ltd. (RJIPL), RIL said in a regulatory filing.

“We are pleased to enter into this long and strategic relationship with Brookfield, which is one of the largest and most respected managers of infrastructure assets globally. We are confident of Brookfield’s abilities to manage this large portfolio of high-quality infrastructure assets and further enhancing value creation opportunities,” RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh D Ambani said.

“This transaction demonstrates the belief of global investors in the potential of India’s digital opportunity,” he added.

RJIPL has a portfolio of about 1.30 lakh communication towers that forms the infrastructure backbone of Reliance Jio Infocomm’s (RJio) telecommunication network. It plans to increase the total number of towers to about 1.75 lakh.

RJio is an anchor tenant of the tower portfolio under a 30-year Master Services Agreement.

The deal is subject to regulatory approvals, which are expected shortly, RIL said.

In July, Brookfield agreed to invest Rs 25,215 crore to take control of Mukesh Ambani-led RJio’s tower infrastructure, making it the largest foreign investment in the Indian infrastructure space.

RJio’s tower assets were transferred to a special purpose vehicle — Reliance Jio Infratel Pvt Ltd. (RJIPL).

Separately, a tower infrastructure trust (InvIT) was registered, sponsored by RIIHL.

The tower InvIT held 51 per cent stake in RJIPL and the balance 49 per cent was held by RIL. Post the deal with Brookfield, the stake held by RIL in RJIPL will be transferred to the tower InvIT. All units of the InvIT will be owned by Brookfield.

HBL