Bharti Telecom buys Airtel's shares for Rs 172 cr, hikes stake

Country's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel today said one of its promoter group entity Bharti Telecom has bought 57.14 lakh shares of the company for Rs 171.92 crore through various market transactions.

Bharti Telecom stake in the company has been now been raised to 43.72%, the company said in a BSE filing.

Bharti Telecom bought 13.04 lakh shares for Rs 38.18 crore at NSE and 54,000 shares for Rs 1.58 crore at BSE on March 25, thus raising the stake marginally from 43.57% to 43.61%, the filing said.

Additionally Bharti Telecom purchased 22.71 lakh shares for Rs 67.53 crore at NSE and 1.34 lakh shares for Rs 3.99 crore at BSE on March 26, which led its stake to increase to 43.67%.

Besides on March 27, the promoter group entity bought 17.50 lakh scrips for Rs 54.41 crore at NSE and 2 lakh shares for Rs 6.2 crore at BSE, further raising the stake to 43.72%, it added.

As on quarter ended December 2013, Bharti Telecom held 43.57% stake in the company. The promoter group had 65.23% in the company at the same period.

Shares of Bharti Airtel today closed at Rs 316.55 apiece, up 1.88% in the afternoon trade on the BSE.