| Data Infrastructure Trust | ||||||
| Long-term rating placed on ‘Watch Developing’; short-term rating reaffirmed | ||||||
| Rating Action | ||||||
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| Note: None of the Directors on CRISIL Ratings Limited’s Board are members of rating committee and thus do not participate in discussion or assignment of any ratings. The Board of Directors also does not discuss any ratings at its meetings. | ||||||
| 1 crore = 10 million | ||||||
| Refer to Annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities |
Detailed Rationale CRISIL Ratings has placed its rating on the non-convertible debentures and corporate credit rating of Data Infrastructure Trust (DIT) on ‘Rating Watch with Developing Implications’ and reaffirmed its short-term rating on the commercial paper programme at ‘CRISIL A1+’.
DIT is an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) sponsored by BIF IV Jarvis India Pte Ltd (BIF IV or sponsor) with BIP India Infra Projects Management Services Pvt Ltd (BIP India Infra) as its investment manager and Axis Trustee Services Ltd as the trustee.
The rating action follows the plan of DIT to acquire 100% interest in American Tower Corporation’s Indian tower business entity, ATC Telecom Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (ATC India). This proposed acquisition by DIT will be its third in telecom infrastructure, followed by Summit Digitel Infrastructure Ltd (SDIL; rated CRISIL AAA/Stable) and Crest Digitel Pvt Ltd (Crest).
ATC India will be acquired by DIT as a separate special-purpose vehicle (SPV) and will be insulated from its two other SPVs, Crest and SDIL, in terms of debt servicing. The deal is expected to be closed at an enterprise valuation of around Rs 16,500 crores (~USD 2 billion) which is subject to increase and pre-closing terms. Management has articulated that funding of this acquisition will be a mix of debt and equity, though capital structure for the same is yet to be finalised.
As per information available in public domain, ATC India’s exposure towards Vodafone India Limited and BSNL was around 45% during fiscal 2023. However, ATC has a comfortable tenancy ratio of around 1.5x and a portfolio of ~78,000 towers as on March 31, 2023.
CRISIL Ratings will continue to monitor the developments in this regard and will analyse the combined business and financial risk profiles, and resolve the watch once the contours of the transaction are finalised. That said, DIT will continue to meet debt obligation on all the rated instruments.
The ratings continue to factor in the strong credit profile of the underlying assets of DIT, which are into telecom infrastructure. SDIL, which is the principal investment for DIT, has strategic importance to RJIL and strong business linkages with it. The ratings also factor in strong financial risk profile with comfortable debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) of the underlying assets. These strengths are partially offset by susceptibility to revenue and counterparty risks related to external tenants for underlying assets.
The ratings also factor in the second investment made by DIT in fiscal 2022 for acquisition of Crest (erstwhile, Space Teleinfra Pvt Ltd), and continues to draw comfort from its consolidated debt to assets under management of ~46% as on September 30, 2023.
DIT is acting as an investment vehicle for the Brookfield group holding underlying assets pertaining to telecom infrastructure. Being the flagship InvIT for the group in data and telecom related infrastructure, the trust may evaluate opportunities to expand the asset base of the InvIT in the future. CRISIL Ratings will continue to monitor such transactions, and their impact on the business and financial risk profiles of DIT will remain a key rating sensitivity factor. |
Analytical Approach CRISIL Ratings has combined the business and financial risk profiles of DIT with its underlying SPVs, SDIL and Crest. This is because the trust is expected to have direct control over these SPVs, which have to mandatorily dispense 90% of their net distributable cash flow (after meeting debt obligation for senior external debt) to the trust, leading to highly fungible cash flow. Also, as per extant regulations, the cap on borrowing of an InvIT has been defined at a consolidated level (equivalent to 70% of the value of the InvIT assets).
Please refer Annexure - List of Entities Consolidated, which captures the list of entities considered and their analytical treatment of consolidation.. |
Key Rating Drivers & Detailed Description Strengths:
The business risk profile of SDIL is further supported by a long-term 30-year master services agreement (MSA) with RJIL, which ensures stable revenue for SDIL, with upside to revenue coming from contracting third-party tenancies. SDIL has also entered into a contract with third-party tenants for providing tower infrastructure to the latter’s networks and is adding tenancies, which will also aid cash flow. Moreover, fixed tower-usage fees and O&M costs and pass-through of any increase in site rentals to tenants (including RJIL) protect profitability. Additionally, project execution risks are borne by the contractor and towers are transferred to the company only after completion at a fixed price.
Crest has inherent business strengths of high client stickiness given MSAs of 5-7 years with telcos, which provide revenue visibility and allow exit penalties, annual rental escalation, steady upfront deposits and timely payments from tenants.
Weakness:
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Liquidity: Superior Stable cash flow with minimum downside risks will comfortably cover debt obligation, leading to healthy DSCR at consolidated level. CRISIL Ratings expects the trust to have consolidated operating cash accrual of Rs 4,700-5,000 crore in fiscal 2024. This, along with cash and equivalent of ~Rs 990 crore (as on December 31, 2023) should suffice SDIL and Crest’s debt obligations of ~Rs 4,400 crore and ~Rs 30 crore, respectively, in fiscal 2024. Moreover, high quality and long life of the assets beyond the tenure of the debt should help SDIL refinance timely at competitive rates, as demonstrated over the last few quarters. |
Rating Sensitivity Factors Downward factors
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About the Trust DIT (formerly, Tower Infrastructure Trust) was incorporated by Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Ltd (RIIHL; a wholly owned subsidiary of RIL) on January 31, 2019, as a trust under the provisions of the Indian Trusts Act, 1882. The trust was registered as an InvIT with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on March 19, 2019. In August 2020, upon receipt of approval from the Department of Telecommunications, BIF IV Jarvis India Pte Ltd became the sponsor to the InvIT by subscribing to 89.79% of its units. After this, the InvIT acquired 100% equity stake in SDIL. The units of the InvIT got listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange with effect from September 2020. In October 2021, the name of the trust was changed from Tower Infrastructure Trust to DIT. The trustee is Axis Trustee Services Ltd. BIP India Infra is the investment manager of the trust. SDIL is its first investment and is engaged in the business of operating and managing the tower assets that have been transferred to it from RJIL. In March 2022, Data InvIT acquired Crest, a leading indoor coverage solutions provider in India, for a consideration of around Rs 900 crore. This was funded by way of issuance of additional units on a rights basis and preferential basis.
About Summit Digitel Infrastructure Ltd SDIL is an SPV formed by the transfer of tower assets and a portion of liabilities by RJIL. In December 2019, RIIHL entered into a binding agreement with Brookfield Asset Management Inc (Brookfield) for investment of Rs 25,215 crore by the latter in the units issued by DIT, after which DIT holds 100% stake in SDIL.
About Crest Digitel Infrastructure Ltd Crest, incorporated in April 2016, is a neutral host provider (IP-1), deploying digital indoor solutions by providing 2G/3G/4G network through a common shared infrastructure. The company owns and operates shared in-building communications infrastructure, which is used by wireless carriers, broadcasters and other communications companies to provide services to end users. The company offers solutions, including those to suit in-building solution, outdoor small cells solution, among other services. |
Key financial indicators (Consolidated)
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Any other information: Not Applicable |
Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument: |
Annexure - Details of Instrument(s)
#Yet to be placed |
Annexure - List of Entities Consolidated
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| Annexure - Rating History for last 3 Years | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Criteria Details
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