Bharti Telecom sells 2.75% stake in Airtel, raises Rs 8433 cr

Bharti Telecom has today (26 May 2020) sold 2.75% stake in Bharti Airtel to institutional investors through an accelerated book building process in the secondary market.

The total sale proceeds of over Rs 8433 crore was over-subscribed multiple times with healthy mix of all categories of investors, long only and hedge fund investors across geographies in India, Asia, Europe and the United States of America (US), Bharti Telecom said in a statement.

The stake sale was anchored by several existing and new shareholders and several marquee global mutual fund complexes, sovereign wealth funds, multi-strategy funds and domestic institutional investors in sizable quantities. J.P. Morgan India acted as the sole placement agent for the secondary placement, the statement added.

The sale proceeds will be utilized to fully repay debt at Bharti Telecom which was raised primarily to finance the acquisition of Bharti Airtel equity shares in the past. With Bharti Telecom becoming a zero debt company, Bharti Airtel's credit profile will also be augmented as it will stand to benefit from deleveraging on a consolidated basis including any debt of promoter holding company.

Post transaction, Bharti Group and Singtel (the promoter group) will continue to own a majority stake in Bharti Airtel at 56.23%. The promoter group remain committed to the business and the long term prospects of Bharti Airtel. In the last few years the promoters have invested over Rs 21,000 crore in Bharti Airtel and stay fully committed to investing further in the business as may be required.

On the BSE, shares of Bharti Airtel fell 5.71% to Rs 559.15. The counter clocked a volume of 17.26 crore shares as against its average trading volume of 6.06 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock fell 5.96% to hit the day's low of Rs 557.65 on BSE today.

On the NSE, the scrip fell 5.94% to Rs 557.95. The counter clocked a volume of 7.64 crore shares compared with its average trading volume of 1.75 crore shares in the past one quarter. The stock fell 6% to hit the day's low of Rs 557.55 on NSE today.

Bharti Airtel is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa.

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