Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices surge up to 10% on merger plan

Bharti Airtel rallied 7.5% to Rs 430 on the BSE in intra-day trade, TTML locked in upper circuit of 10% at Rs 4.86.

Shares of telecom companies, Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra), have rallied by up to 10% after Sunil Mittal - owned  Bharti Airtel agreed to take over Tata Group’s mobile services business.

Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecommunications services provider and Tata, India’s leading conglomerate, on Thursday announced that they have entered into an understanding (“Agreement”) to merge Consumer Mobile Businesses (CMB) of Tata Teleservices (TTSL) and TTML into Bharti Airtel. The acquisition is subject to requisite regulatory approvals.

“As part of the Agreement, Bharti Airtel will absorb Tata CMB’s operations across the country in nineteen circles (17 under TTSL and 2 under TTML). These circles represent bulk of India’s population and customer base,” Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

The merger is being done on a debt-free cash-free basis, except for Bharti Airtel assuming a small portion of the unpaid spectrum liability of Tata’s towards the DoT, which is to be paid on deferred basis, it added.

Analysts have given a thumbs-up to the Tata Teleservices – Bharti Airtel deal, as they feel the move provides an exit route to the already bleeding Tata-owned company. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL REPORT

Bharti Airtel has rallied 7.5% to Rs 430 on the BSE in intra-day trade. The stock was trading close to its 52-week high of Rs 438 touched on August 28, 2017 in intra-day trade.

TTML locked in upper circuit of 10% at Rs 4.86, extending its Thursday’s 10% gain on the BSE. A combined 653,005 shares changed hands and there were pending buy orders for 33.49 million shares on the NSE and BSE at 09:33 AM.