MUMBAI: Bharti Infratel, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, will see investment of $ 250 million from private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR).

The investment will be made by KKR’s Asia-dedicated private equity fund and its global private equity fund.

This is in addition to the investment of $1 billion in Bharti Infratel by Temasek Holdings, The Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD) Goldman Sachs, Macquarie, AIF Capital, Citigroup and India Equity Partners (IEP) in December 2007.

The enterprise valuation of Bharti Infratel will be in the range of $10 to $12.5 billion with the final valuation to be determined on the basis of Bharti Infratel’s actual operating performance in FY 2008-09. This investment reinforces the confidence of leading global investors in the Indian telecom sector, which is now the fastest growing telecom market in the world, and the Bharti Group. It is also an endorsement of the Indian Government’s visionary policy on sharing of passive infrastructure.

Bharti Infratel owns over 20,000 sites and holds an approximately 42 per cent stake in Indus Towers, the recently announced joint venture between Bharti, Vodafone and Idea, which has over 70,000 sites. Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers will provide passive infrastructure services to all wireless telecom operators in India on a non-discriminatory basis.