According to a filing with the market, Bharti Telecom and Singapore’s Singtel have agreed to buy a 3.33% share in Airtel for $1.6 billion (about Rs. 12,800 crores).
Bharti Telecom, headed by Sunil Mittal, is one of the companies that promote Bharti Airtel. Singtel is a shareholder in the promotional arm as well, though.
While the benchmark Nifty50 index rose 0.4% today (August 25), Airtel’s shares increased by over 1.2% in early trade. In Singapore, Singtel’s home market, shares increased by about 2% as well.
For more than 20 years, Singtel has owned a portion of Airtel.
To narrow its emphasis on its core activities, Singtel has decided to reduce some of its shareholdings in the second-largest telco in India. The company plans to invest the money from this sale in 5G and other home market expansion projects.
With Singtel owning the remaining 49.44% of Bharti Telecom, the Sunil Mittal family owns 50.56% of the company. Before the deal, this promoter arm owned a 35.85% interest in Bharti Airtel.
The Mittals owned a 24.13% interest in Bharti Airtel before the transaction, while Singtel retained a 31.72% share.
Following the transaction, Singtel’s ownership of Bharti Airtel would drop to 29.7%, valued at just under $15.8 billion (or around Rs. 1.26 lakh crore).
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