Bharti Airtel moves up after Sebi's nod for merger

Bharti Airtel gained 1.05% to Rs 371 at 10:00 IST on BSE after the company said that it has received Securities and Exchange Board of India and stock exchange approvals for the proposed merger with Telenor India.

The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 1 June 2017.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 105.62 points, or 0.34% to 31,243.21.

On the BSE, 27,771 shares were traded in the counter so far, compared with average daily volumes of 5.9 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 379.60 and a low of Rs 369.95 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 400.65 on 23 February 2017. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 283.95 on 9 November 2016.

The stock gained 3.54% over the past one month till 1 June 2017, underperforming the Sensex's 4.08% rise. The scrip had underperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 1.25% as against Sensex's 7.43% rise. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one year, gaining 1.2% as against Sensex's 16.56% rise.

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

Bharti Airtel announced that it has received the approval of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), BSE and National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) for the proposed scheme of merger between Airtel and Telenor (India) Communications.

Bharti Airtel further stated that Telenor India and Airtel have filed the joint company application before the New Delhi Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal for approval of the proposed scheme of merger. The merger is subject to other statutory approvals including from the Competition Commission of India.

Airtel had earlier announced in February 2017 that it had entered into a definitive agreement with Telenor South Asia Investments Pte Ltd (Telenor). As part of the scheme, Airtel will acquire Telenor India's running operations in seven circles - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Assam. These circles represent a high population concentration and therefore offer a high potential for growth.

The proposed acquisition will include transfer of all of Telenor India's assets and customers, further augmenting Airtel's overall customer base and network. It will also enable Airtel to further bolster its strong spectrum foot-print in these seven circles, with the addition of 43.4 MHz spectrum in the 1800 MHz band.

Bharti Airtel's consolidated net profit fell 69.2% to Rs 470.6 crore on 12.1% decline in net sales to Rs 21934.60 crore in Q4 March 2017 over Q4 March 2016.

Bharti Airtel is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 17 countries across Asia and Africa.

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