Bharti Airtel gains after announcing agreement to sell towers in Democratic Republic of Congo

Bharti Airtel rose 1.63% to Rs 361.05 at 10:05 IST on BSE after the company said that its subsidiary has announced an agreement with a leading telecoms towers company in Africa for the divestment of telecoms towers in Democratic Republic of Congo.

The announcement was made after trading hours yesterday, 5 May 2016.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 158.92 points or 0.63% at 25,103.29

On BSE, so far 62,293 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 3.12 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 364.15 and a low of Rs 354.55 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 282.30 on 29 January 2016. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 452.45 on 21 July 2015. The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 5 May 2016, rising 7.52% compared with the Sensex's 1.52% gains. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 15.66% as against Sensex's 2.62% gains.

The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 1998.70 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5.

Bharti Airtel said that its subsidiary, Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV, and Helios Towers Africa (HTA), a leading independent telecoms towers company in Africa, announced an agreement for the divestment of approximately 950 telecoms towers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from Bharti Airtel to HTA. The divestment also includes towers currently under construction in the DRC. The agreement will allow the company to focus on its core business and customers, while enabling it to deleverage through debt reduction, Bharti Airtel said. The deal will significantly reduce the company's ongoing capital expenditure on passive infrastructure and also mitigate the proliferation of towers through enhanced sharing, Bharti Airtel said. The deal will help expand HTA's tower coverage in Africa to over 6,500 owned towers.

The agreement follows Bharti Airtel's and HTA's strategies to drive cost efficiencies throughout the industry, the promotion of passive infrastructure and to mitigate against the proliferation of towers. Post deal, Bharti Airtel will have full access to the towers from HTA under a long term lease contract. The agreement is subject to statutory and regulatory approvals in the respective countries.

Bharti Airtel's consolidated net profit rose 2.8% to Rs 1290.30 crore on 8.4% growth in net sales to Rs 24959.60 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015.

Bharti Airtel is one of the leading global telecommunications service providers with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa.

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