Canadian Pension Fund La Caisse has successfully completed its acquisition of a 24% stake in Altius Telecom Infrastructure Trust for approximately ₹12,100 crore (US$1.3 billion). According to the latest statement from La Caisse, the transaction has now been completed, making La Caisse a significant institutional investor in India's largest independent telecom infrastructure firm. With this completion, Brookfield remains Altius' largest investor, holding a 37% stake, alongside La Caisse and existing shareholders who are affiliates of GIC and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI). The investment comes ahead of Altius' planned transition to a publicly listed InvIT through an offering expected to raise around ₹6,000 crore, with the InvIT's valuation pegged at $5-6 billion according to industry experts. As per Brookfield, this deal reflects confidence in India's growing demand for mobile connectivity and 5G infrastructure.
India's Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved a proposal from La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec to acquire a stake in Altius Telecom Infrastructure Trust. The transaction was submitted via the Competition Act's green channel, indicating no harmful effects on competition are expected in the Indian telecom infrastructure market. As per ETLegalWorld, the CCI notice dated August 28 states that "the proposed transaction is being notified under Section 6 (4) of the Competition Act, 2002," with the green channel route deemed approval upon being intimated to the competition watchdog. The investment also comes at a time when key telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio are tapering their capex spending, while Vodafone Idea is expected to increase capex as it expands 5G services, intensifying pricing and tenancy competition between Altius and Indus Towers.
According to Emmanuel Jaclot, Executive Vice-President and Head of Infrastructure and Sustainability at La Caisse, the investment reflects the fund's expertise in telecom towers and digital infrastructure globally. La Caisse, formerly known as CDPQ, which has assets of nearly $400 billion under management, views this as an attractive market opportunity through an established platform alongside institutional partners with whom they have longstanding relationships. La Caisse, a global investment group with more than 60 years of experience, invests across major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure, real estate and private credit. As of June 30, it held CAD 552 billion in net assets and has a dual mandate to generate long-term returns for its 48 depositors, representing more than six million Quebecers. Jaclot emphasized that "as India's economy grows and more people and businesses rely on higher use of mobile data, the infrastructure behind those connections needs to keep pace."
According to the CCI notice, La Caisse is present in India through its subsidiaries including CDPQ India, Ivanhoe Cambridge Investment Advisory (India) Pvt Ltd, and SITQ India Pvt Ltd. Altius Telecom Infrastructure Trust, formerly known as Data Infrastructure Trust, is a Sebi-registered infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) engaged in the provision of passive telecom infrastructure services in India. The company owns and operates more than 258,000 telecom towers and sites across India, giving it a nationwide presence in the telecom infrastructure sector. The platform provides infrastructure that enables mobile operators to deliver 4G and 5G services. Altius competes directly with Bharti group-backed Indus Towers, which is the largest player in the country with over 267,611 towers as of June 2026. As per the CCI notice, "the activities of the parties, their respective group entities and their affiliates do not exhibit any horizontal overlaps, vertical linkages and complementary linkages in any of the plausible relevant markets in India."
The La Caisse investment reflects growing interest among global investors for Indian infrastructure assets, with major players like Blackstone Inc., KKR & Co. and Macquarie Asset Management ramping up investments. Earlier this week, CPP Investments, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, Temasek Holdings Pte, AustralianSuper and others backed the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Ltd.'s latest fund. La Caisse's other India investments include Azure Power India Pvt., Apraava Energy Pvt. and Maple Infrastructure Trust. The deal comes as global pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and infrastructure investors increasingly target India's digital infrastructure sector, including telecom towers, data centres and fibre networks. India is the world's second-largest telecommunications market by number of subscribers, while rising mobile data use and 5G adoption are driving demand for digital infrastructure. The investment thesis is shifting from tower additions to network densification, 5G, data growth and the next generation of digital infrastructure.
