Competition Commission of India grants unconditional Phase 1 clearance to $2 billion acquisition of ATC India by Data Infrastructure Trust

A joint Compass Lexecon and FTI Consulting team assisted Data Infrastructure Trust (‘DIT’), an infrastructure investment trust sponsored by an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management, with the Competition Commission of India’s (‘CCI’) review of DIT’s acquisition of ATC Telecom Infrastructure Private Limited (‘ATC India’). In August 2024, the CCI granted an unconditional Phase 1 clearance to the transaction in the sector for passive telecom infrastructure services.

Situation

DIT announced its proposed acquisition of 100% of the shares of ATC India, an indirect subsidiary of American Tower International. Both parties are active in the provision of passive telecom infrastructure services in India (towers). As per the provisions of India’s Competition Act (2002), the transaction needed the approval of the CCI.

Our Role

A joint team from Compass Lexecon and FTI Consulting assisted Brookfield and its investment trust DIT with the merger review by the CCI. We conducted an in-depth competition analysis, covering market definition and share analysis. We put forward arguments to show that the transaction would not have an appreciable adverse effect on competition.

Outcome

The CCI accepted most of our arguments related to market definition and the likely impact of the deal on competition. Particularly, it concluded that buyer power, existence of spare capacity and the existing contractual terms, will continue to exercise a competitive constraint on the merged entity. In August 2024, the CCI approved the acquisition after a Phase I investigation without the need for remedies.

The Team

Justin Coombs, Kadu Prasad and Neha Georgie from Compass Lexecon worked alongside Jincy Francis, Avinash Mehrotra, Nitish Lal, Sanskriti Pattnaik and Manvi Shangari from FTI to provide economic advice to the parties. They assisted legal counsel from S&R Associates and Axiom5 Law Chambers LLP.