American Tower and Carlyle are the front-runners for acquiring a 51 per cent stake in Reliance Infratel Limited, say news reports.

About five to six companies have shown interest in buying a majority stake in the infrastructure company and bids value Reliance Infratel limited at Rs 20 to 24 billion. The valuation includes about Rs 80 billion of debt.

Standard Chartered and SBI Capital Markets are managing the stake sale process, in which due diligence is expected to be carried out in July-August 2015, followed by management presentations and definitive bids. The transaction is expected to close by September end or October 2015.

Reliance Communications holds 96 per cent stake in Reliance Infratel Limited and is looking to sell a majority stake in the company, which is the country’s third largest tower company. Reliance Infratel Limited, has a tower portfolio of 45,000 towers and owns about 120,000 kms of intra- and inter-circle fibre network.  The stake sale is aimed at pairing debt and putting the focus back on core operations