Brookfield Asset Management said on Friday that it will acquire the India business of American Tower Corporation (ATC India) for $2 billion to expand its telecom services portfolio.

Brookfield, through its infrastructure investment trust Data Infrastructure Trust (DIT), has acquired 100% ownership of ATC, subject to pre-closing conditions under the Securities Purchase Agreement.

The deal, which marks the asset manager's third acquisition in the telecom space, is expected to give Brookfield access to ATC India's vast portfolio of around 78,000 locations across the country.

“We look forward to expanding and enhancing our existing telecom tower portfolio in India, enabling a broader range of solutions for our customers and partners,” Arpit Agrawal, managing director and head of infrastructure for India and the Middle East at Brookfield, said in the declaration.

ATC India will be folded into DIT, which currently houses Brookfield's telecom tower businesses in India through Summit Digitel and Crest Digitel. The acquired assets are expected to diversify DIT's revenues and increase touchpoints with all mobile network operators in India.

“The total cash proceeds include an enterprise value of the ATC India operations of approximately $2 billion plus a ticker fee applicable from October 1, 2023 to the date of closing,” ATC said in its press release.

According to the company, the proceeds associated with the enterprise value are subject to the repayment of existing intercompany debt and the repayment or assumption of the existing Indian term loan by DIT.

American Tower will retain the full economic benefit of the optionally converted debentures (OCDs) issued by Vodafone Idea and will be entitled to future payments in respect of existing claims of ATC India, it said. “The proceeds from the transaction are expected to be used to repay American Tower’s existing debt.”

The acquisition will further diversify Brookfield's existing portfolio of approximately 175,000 towers, which it acquired from Reliance Industrial Investments in 2020.

In 2022, the asset manager also acquired a portfolio of 5,000 indoor business solution sites and small cell sites, driving 5G adoption and enabling telecom operators to expand their coverage capacity in hard-to-reach and densely populated areas.

The agreement comes at a time when India is witnessing a growing number of tech-savvy internet users, driven by improving accessibility, greater penetration of affordable mobile devices and government initiatives.

In total, Brookfield manages about $25 billion in assets across infrastructure, real estate, renewable energy and transition, and private equity in India, the statement said.

The transaction, which is still awaiting regulatory approvals, is expected to close in the second half of this year.