Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (Singtel) has concluded its planned sale of a 3.33% stake in Bharti Airtel for around $1.76 billion (about Rs 14,400 crore).
Bharti Telecom Ltd (BTL), a key promoter company of the Indian telco, has acquired around 3.2% of this stake, while the rest was bought by the public.
“Singtel wishes to announce that its indirect wholly owned subsidiaries, Pastel Ltd and Viridian Ltd, have sold and transferred an aggregate of 198 million shares of Bharti Airtel, representing approximately 3.3% of the total number of equity shares of the Indian telco,” the Southeast Asian carrier said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
BTL said it had acquired roughly 190.02 million shares, or 3.2 % of Airtel from Singtel’s affiliates.
“Post-the above transaction, BTL holds 38.62% in Airtel,” it said in an exchange filing. It was 35.4% earlier.
Airtel shares closed 0.72% higher at Rs 760.60 on the BSE Tuesday.
Last month, Singtel announced plans to sell a 3.33% stake in Airtel to BTL as part of plans to boost shareholder returns and increase return on invested capital.
Singtel and Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Enterprises had also decided to work towards equalising their effective shareholdings in Airtel over time.
Singtel had originally said it would sell a 3.3% stake in Airtel for $1.61 billion, which at the then rupee-dollar conversion rate worked out to around Rs 12,900 crore.
However, Singtel has sold the stake for $1.76 billion (Rs 14,400 crore), raking in nearly Rs 1,500 crore more following a sharp depreciation in the rupee against the US dollar, said industry experts.
The Mittals and Singtel will continue to own 50.56% and 49.44% respectively in BTL, which won’t change after the deal.
Airtel’s promoter group holding – comprising the Mittal family and Singtel – will also remain at around 55.3%.
The Singapore company’s effective holding in Airtel will drop to around 29.7% from 31.4% previously.
The Mittal family’s effective stake in Airtel – direct and through BTL – will rise to around 25.5% from around 24% earlier.
Of the 25.5%, around 6% will be direct and the rest through BTL.
In August, BTL said that Bharti and Singtel had decided to make some directional shifts in their respective holdings in Airtel, which would pave the way for Airtel’s controlling company to further strengthen its shareholding in India’s second-largest telco.
