Bharti Airtel slips in volatile trade after raising funds from overseas bond sale

Bharti Airtel shed 0.23% to Rs 300.20 at 09:49 IST on BSE after the company said it has raised 350 million CHF through issue of bonds in the Swiss market.

The announcement was made after market hours on Thursday, 13 March 2014.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 99.57 points, or 0.46%, to 21,675.04

On BSE, so far 23,498 shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 3.24 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock was volatile. The stock rose as much as 0.53% at the day's high of Rs 302.50 so far during the day. The stock fell as much as 0.39% at the day's low of Rs 299.70 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 373.50 on 1 November 2013. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 266.95 on 5 April 2013.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 13 March 2014, falling 0.56% compared with the Sensex's 7.83% rise. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 6.28% as against Sensex's 5.11% rise.

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

Bharti Airtel announced on Thursday, 13 March 2014 that its wholly-owned subsidiary Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) B.V. (Bharti) has successfully priced CHF 350 Million 3% Guaranteed Senior Notes due 31 March 2020 (the Notes). The Notes will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Bharti Airtel. Bharti will apply the net proceeds to refinance its existing debt.

The Notes carry an Investment Grade rating from Moody's, Standard &Poor and Fitch, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

The Notes received considerable investor interest, witnessing a strong and balanced demand across high quality Institutional Investors and Swiss Private Banks, highlighting the broad support base that the Bharti credit has attracted. The Notes have been priced at 230 basis points over 6 year CHF Mid Swaps with a fixed coupon of 3% per annum to yield 2.98%, the company said.

Mr. Harjeet Kohli, Group Treasurer, Bharti Airtel said, "It is extremely heartening to have a third listing of our credit in just one year with yet another largest debut issuance from India. With this issuance, Bharti now has the largest debut USD, EURO and CHF denominated bond issuances by an Indian issuer ever."

"These issuances continue to diversify our funding sources, currencies and investor base, besides being priced at very attractive levels. Bharti's credit continues to receive interest from diverse and high quality investors, underlining the strength of our business." added Mr. Kohli.

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel announced after market hours on Thursday, 13 March 2014 that Nikesh Arora has resigned from the board and Dinesh Kumar Mittal has been appointed as an Additional Director in the category of Independent Director from 13 March 2014.

On 7 March 2014, global ratings agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) had upgraded its issuer rating of Bharti Airtel to 'BBB-'. The rating assigned a stable outlook, which is also above the credit rating outlook assigned to India by S&P, reflecting the company's ability to withstand sovereign stress, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

On a consolidated basis, Bharti Airtel's net profit surged 115.1% to Rs 610.20 crore on 13.3% growth in net sales to Rs 21938.50 crore in Q3 December 2013 over Q3 December 2012.

Bharti Airtel is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 4 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 287 million customers across its operations at the end of December 2013.

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