KUALA LUMPUR: S&P Global Ratings said Axiata Group Bhd
’s financial headroom would improve with the cancellation of its acquisition of a Pakistan telecom tower company.
It said on Wednesday that the ratings on the group are unaffected.
Axiata’s 62.4% owned subsidiary, Edotco Group Sdn Bhd, had planned acquire Deodar, the tower unit of Pakistan Mobile Communications Ltd.
The ratings house said it now projects Axiata’s ratio of debt to Ebitda to be 1.7x-1.8x in 2019, better than the 1.9x-2.0x it had expected with the transaction.
It said the rating was based on a debt-to-Ebitda ratio of less than 2x on a sustained basis.
Deodar was to add more than 13,000 towers to Edotco’s portfolio for US$940mil (RM3.89bil). The acquisition was to be funded by US$600mil (RM2.48bil) debt and the remainder by equity.
“Despite the cancellation of the transaction, we believe Axiata will continue to be interested in assets in Pakistan and regionally,” it said.
Edotco’s stated growth strategy is to become the fifth-largest tower company globally by 2020.
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