iWorld
Big deals happening in telecom towers
MUMBAI: Valuation in the business of telecom towers has averaged out over the past decade when the sector witnessed a battery of PE firms negotiate deals in India. There have been, over the past year, a few large deals in the sector.
American private equity firm Providence, specialising in media, telecom, and technology investments, is reportedly exchanging its holding in Aditya Birla Telecom Ltd (ABTL) with a 4.8% stake in Indus Towers Ltd. The planned potential deal is expected to be a stock swap for Providence.
The stake for Providence may be worth around Rs 3,000 crore according to estimates in the backdrop of recent deals in the telecom tower space in India.
VCCircle has reported that the country’s largest telecom tower firm Indus Towers is a three-way joint venture with Bharti Infratel Ltd (42%), Vodafone India (42%) and ABTL (16%). Providence Equity Partners owns compulsory convertible preference shares of ABTL that give it beneficial stake of around 30% in the privately held firm.
Indus is an independently managed company offering passive infrastructure services to all telecom operators and broadband service providers. It operates in 15 of India’s 22 telecom service areas including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and states in southern, northern and western regions. As of 31 March 2016, it operated 119,881 towers with 270,006 co-locations.
The Economic Times, earlier this month, reported that the Aditya Birla Group was looking at restructuring its towers venture that could involve Providence swapping shares of ABTL with a 5% stake in Indus. It reported that the group was seeking to sell a large stake in its captive tower business under Idea Cellular, and may merge that arm with ABTL, and then bring down its equity in the merged entity.
Reliance Communications recently signed term sheet with Brookfield Infrastructure Group for part-sale of its telecom tower business. RCom is selling 51% stake in tower unit for Rs 11,000 crore. The deal involving 45,000 mobile towers will facilitate RCom to lessen debt burden.Reliance Communications has a net debt of Rs. 42,000 crores as of end-June, which it expects to cut by Rs. 20,000 crore. Reliance had been looking to sell its mobile towers business, and had expected to seal a deal by October, CEO Gurdeep Singh had said earlier.
American Tower Corporation, a year ago, purchased a 51% stake in telecom tower firm Viom Networks for Rs 7,635 crore. Co-promoted by Tata Group and the Kanoria family of SREI Infrastructure, Viom had private investors, some of whom had backed the Kanorias’s Quippo Telecom Infrastructure.
e-commerce
American Express to acquire AI startup Hyper to boost automation
Deal targets expense management as AI reshapes corporate spending tools.
MUMBAI: From receipts to robots, the expense sheet is getting a brain upgrade as American Express moves to bring artificial intelligence into the heart of corporate spending. The company has announced plans to acquire Hyper, a relatively young but fast-rising startup founded in 2022 that builds AI-powered agents capable of organising expenses, generating reports, verifying compliance with budgets and policies, and nudging users with timely reminders. The deal, expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, underscores a growing shift among financial institutions to automate traditionally manual, time-heavy workflows.
Hyper counts Sam Altman among its backers, adding a layer of Silicon Valley credibility to the acquisition. While financial details remain undisclosed, the strategic intent is clear: deepen automation capabilities and sharpen American Express’s position in the competitive corporate spending ecosystem.
The two companies are not strangers. They previously collaborated in 2024 on a co-branded credit card product, suggesting that the acquisition is less a cold buy and more an extension of an existing relationship. With this move, American Express is effectively bringing that capability in-house, aiming to embed AI directly into its commercial services stack.
Chief executive Stephen Squeri had already signalled the direction of travel in a recent shareholder letter, describing AI as a “structural shift” in how businesses operate. The Hyper acquisition appears to be a direct response to that shift, particularly in expense management, where processes such as approvals, compliance checks and reporting remain ripe for automation.
Alongside the acquisition, the company is also expanding its product suite. A recently launched business credit card offers cashback and benefits at an annual fee of $295, with another card expected later this year moves that complement its broader push into commercial services.
Taken together, the strategy points to a future where managing expenses may require fewer spreadsheets and more algorithms. For American Express, the bet is simple, if businesses are rethinking how work gets done, the tools that power that work need to evolve just as quickly.
