Temasek has option for 5% in Bharti

Singapore-based Temasek Holdings has been given the option to buy 4.99 per cent in Bharti Airtel Ltd, India's largest private telecom company.

The stake, which is valued at Rs 8,200 crore at the company's current market capitalisation, will be sold by one of the group companies of Bharti Enterprises.

Bharti earlier had an agreement with Vodafone for an option to buy its 5.6 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel for $1.6 billion (Rs 6,720 crore) within 18 months.

This followed the UK company's acquisition of a controlling stake in Hutchison-Essar as a result of which it had to meet regulatory limits on holding more than 10 per cent in a competing company in the same circle.

Vodafone also holds a 4.4 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel indirectly, which it retains.

Bharti Enterprises maintains a controlling interest of over 45 per cent in Bharti Airtel Limited through Bharti Telecom Limited.

Said a Bharti group spokesperson, "This is an option we have granted to Temasek and we have to wait till they exercise it."

Temasek has been looking for investments in India's telecom sector and has a 9.6 per cent stake in Tata TeleServices.

It also has an indirect stake in Bharti Airtel through Singapore Telecom (SingTel) in which it is a large shareholder. SingTel has a 15.6 per cent direct stake in Bharti Airtel.

Bharti Airtel tops the league table of telecom companies in terms of market capitalisation with a value of Rs 1,64,407 crore.