India's Reliance Communications has closed in on a deal to sell its tower business and fiber assets to two private investment groups for around 300 billion rupees ($4.5 billion).
The operator has signed a non-binding agreement with Tillman Global Holdings and Texas Pacific group to sell its infrastructure arm Reliance Infratel, Times of India reported.
The deal will hinge on due diligence and regulatory approvals, and the prospective buyers have until January 15 to decide whether to go through with the deal.
Under the proposal, Reliance Infratel's assets would be transferred to a new special purpose vehicle owned by the investment companies. RCom would then continue to act as the anchor tenant for the towers.
According to the report, the investment companies have agreed to take on Reliance Infratel's debt as part of the proposed deal.
But the arrangement brings RCom one step closer to its goal of selling its tower assets as part of efforts to cut down 400 billion rupees in debt accrued from spectrum acquisition and network rollout costs.
RCom owns a 96% stake in Reliance Infratel, with the remainder owned by investment companies.
The operator has been seeking to sell its tower assets to help reduce debt for some time, and has reportedly recently been in discussions with multiple potential buyers.