Bharti Infratel dips 5% as Co extends deadline for merger with Indus Towers

The company has extended the deadline for completion of merger with Indus Towers by over two months till August 31.

Bharti Infratel shares slumped as much as 5.6 per cent to Rs 220 apiece on the BSE on Thursday, after the company extended the deadline for completion of merger with Indus Towers by over two months till August 31.

At 09:48 am, the stock was trading around 4 per cent lower at Rs 224 on the BSE. In comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was trading flat at 34,752, down 0.33 per cent.

The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 295.75 on December 2, 2019 while its 52-week low as well as its all-time low stands at Rs 121.25, touched on March 19, 2020. Bharti Infratel shares had hit an all-time high of Rs 505 on May 29, 2015.

"The Board of Directors of the Company met earlier today and took note of the status of Scheme of arrangement between Indus and Bharti Infratel. Since the conditions precedent to be fulfilled for the Scheme to become effective cannot be completed by the extended-Long Stop Date i.e. June 24, 2020, the Board of Directors have further extended the Long Stop Date till August 31,2020," Bharti Infratel said in an exchange filing on Wednesday.

Vodafone Idea, too, issued an update in relation to the merger of Indus with Bharti Infratel. "The consummation of the Merger is subject to mutual agreement between the parties on the pre-closing adjustments, and other conditions precedent for closing," the company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

Vodafone Idea holds 11.15 per cent stake in Indus Towers.

On April 24, Bharti Infratel had said that its board took note of the status of the scheme of arrangement between Indus and Bharti Infratel and further extended the long stop date till June 24, 2020.

For the quarter ended March 2020, the company had reported a 7 per cent increase in consolidated net profit for the March quarter at Rs 650 crore. The consolidated revenues for Q4 FY20 came in marginally higher at Rs 3,624 crore, according to a company statement. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL REPORT

For the full financial year ended March 2020, the company said its consolidated profit after tax stood at Rs 3,299 crore, up 32 per cent over the previous fiscal.

The statement, however, also mentioned that the results for the quarter and full year ended March 2020 include the impact of Ind AS 116 accounting norms and the same are not comparable with the past period results.