Dilip Gaur, Business Director, Pulp & Fibre, Aditya Birla Group
Vodafone India and Idea Cellular Limited (“Idea”)1 have separately agreed to sell their respective standalone tower businesses in India to ATC Telecom Infrastructure Private Limited (“ATC TIPL”, formerly Viom)2 for an aggregate enterprise value of INR78.5 billion (US$1.2 billion)3. The standalone tower businesses of Vodafone India and Idea are panIndian passive telecommunication infrastructure businesses, comprising a combined portfolio of approximately 20,000 towers with a combined tenancy ratio of 1.65x as at 30 June 2017. Idea will sell its entire stake in ICISL and Vodafone India will sell a business undertaking to ATC TIPL. Both Vodafone India and Idea as customers, and ATC TIPL as a mobile network infrastructure provider, have agreed to treat each other as long-term preferred partners, subject to existing arrangements. The parties will work together to further the expansion of high speed mobile networks in India. After Vodafone India and Idea have completed their merger, ~6,300 colocated tenancies of the two operators on the combined standalone tower businesses will collapse into single
tenancies over a period of two years without the payment of exit penalties4. This transaction follows the Vodafone India / Idea merger announcement of 20 March 2017 whereby the parties announced their intention to sell their individual standalone tower businesses to strengthen the balance sheet of the combined business. In the event that the completion of the sale of the standalone tower businesses precedes the completion of the proposed merger of Vodafone India and Idea, Vodafone India will receive INR38.5 billion (US$592 million) and Idea will receive INR40.0 billion (US$615 million)5. The receipt of these proceeds prior to completion was anticipated and provided for in the merger agreement and hence would not affect the agreed terms of the Vodafone India and Idea merger, including the amount of debt which Vodafone will contribute to the combined company at completion6. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and receipt of necessary regulatory approvals, and is expected to take place during the first half of calendar year 2018.
Birla Cellulose is Number One Globally for Its Commitment to Sustainable Forestry Management
Birla Cellulose of the Aditya Birla Group has been ranked Number one globally by the NGO Canopy, in its Hot Button Report for its work on the conservation of ancient and endangered forests. Birla Cellulose has a ‘light green shirt’ ranking in the updated and expanded edition of the Hot Button Report released recently, which ranks eleven viscose rayon producers that represent 70 per cent of global viscose production. "We are proud of the global industry leading ranking of Birla Cellulose and thank Canopy for acknowledging our sustainability efforts from forest to fashion. This reinforces our belief that sustainability is core to our business strategy," said Dilip Gaur, Business Director, Pulp & Fibre, Aditya Birla Group and Managing Director – Grasim Industries Ltd. “High conservation value forests are an important part of our global ecosystems. At Birla Cellulose, we use only sustainably sourced fibre for our pulp operations. We adhere to the strict standards of our global fibre sourcing policy, which focuses on protection of high conservation value and ancient and endangered forests,” states Vinod Tiwari, Chief Operating Officer, Pulp Business, Birla Cellulose. He added, “Birla Cellulose has been striving to deliver quality products while protecting the environment, and the efforts of all team members have made this achievement possible.” “We engage with the entire textile value chain and support global brands for their sustainability journey and being a responsible partner to their sourcing needs. We have plans to further support in traceability, certifications and sustainable innovations,” added Rajeev Gopal, Chief Marketing Officer, Birla Cellulose. Birla Cellulose has successfully completed Canopy Style audit and its current supply chains confirm that the risk of sourcing wood from ancient and endangered forests or other controversial sources is low risk, which an industry is leading result. Canopy’s Hot Button issue ranks the world’s top viscose producers on their progress on eliminating endangered forests from their supply. This year the ranking features five new criteria, including priorities on conservation solutions and transparency where Birla Cellulose has leader scores. The report is highly anticipated by over 105 global brands, retailers and designers that are part of the Canopy Style initiative. It has become a “goto” resource for fashion brands since first published in 2016.