Sujana Towers close to acquisition in South Africa

MUMBAI: Hyderabad-based Sujana Towers is close to acquiring a South African tower manufacturer and the deal is likely to be struck in ten days. "Sujana Towers has already zeroed in on the target and signed an agreement with the target company. Some regulatory issues are to be resolved. The deal is likely to be announced within ten days," market sources said.

When contacted Sujana Group's Director V S R Murthy declined to comment saying, "it is too premature to say anything now on this".

But, he said that Sujana Towers was looking at acquisitions in several countries abroad including South Africa.

Tower is a growing business in South Africa. Demand for telecom towers is growing by around 40-50 per cent per year and the same for power transmission business is growing at 60 per cent each year.

"However, this kind of growth is unlikely to sustain for long. The demand for telecom towers will remain very high till 2012, while the same for power transmission business is likely to be stretched a few years beyond that," sources said.

South Africa is known for availability of cheap manpower. This coupled with huge demand might have enticed Sujana Towers to look at it as an acquisition destination, they said.