Sensex rises; Bharti Airtel leads

By Samantha Kareen Nair

REUTERS - Indian shares rose on Wednesday led by Bharti Airtel Ltd after reports that a KKR-led consortium was in talks for a tower consolidation deal involving Airtel's tower arm Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers.

The consortium, comprising Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and GIC Singapore, are mulling a $11-billion bid that could see Bharti Infratel buying Indus Towers, the Economic Times reported, citing people aware of the matter.

"Sentiment among investors is a clear positive for Bharti Infratel now given the tower deal talk," said Siddharth Sedani, vice president and head equity advisory, Anand Rathi.

On a broader front, the September-quarter earnings season is expected to be subdued due to the impact of the goods and services tax, Sedani added, saying he expects a turnaround only in the December-quarter.

Market heavyweights Tata Consultancy Services and Reliance Industries Ltd are slated to post results later this week. Shares of both companies were up over 1 percent each.

The broader NSE Nifty was up 0.45 percent at 10,062.05 as of 0531 GMT while the benchmark BSE Sensex was 0.48 percent higher at 32,077.96.

Shares of Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel rose as much as 4.5 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively. The stocks were the top percentage gainers on both indexes.

State-run Dena Bank Ltd rose as much as 4.3 percent to its highest since Sept. 26 after the bank sold shares to institutions to raise between 2.75 billion rupees ($42.15 million) and 4.25 billion rupees.

Uttam Galva Steels Ltd jumped 10 percent after the Economic Times reported that the debt-laden steel company had four potential suitors including Edelweiss ARC and AION Capital. (http://bit.ly/2ye0Fqq)

($1 = 65.2500 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Samantha Kareen Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair)