Bharti Airtel promoters to sell 0.56% stake to raise up to ₹7,200 crore

Sale to be third instance of sale by promoter entity ICIL within 2025

Promoters of Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel are set to sell a 0.56 per cent stake in the company on Wednesday to raise up to ₹7,200 crore through block deals.

 

According to the term sheet seen by Business Standard, Indian Continent Investment (ICIL), a promoter entity, will sell 34.3 million shares at a price of ₹2,096.7 per share, a 3 per cent discount to Tuesday’s close of ₹2,160.75 apiece.

 

The sale will see ICIL’s stake in Airtel drop to 0.92 per cent, from existing 1.48 per cent. The promoters currently own a 50.27 per cent stake in Airtel, while Singtel of Singapore owns a 27.5 per cent stake.

 

Airtel didn't respond to queries from Business Standard until the time of going to press.

 

This would be the third time ICIL would have sold stake in Airtel in the past year, with the last such transaction taking place in August. At the time, the promoter had sold 0.98 per cent stake for ₹11,227 crore (1.3 billion), marking one of the largest block deals in the domestic markets.

 

In February, ICIL had sold a 0.84 per cent stake, or 51 million shares, for ₹8,485 crore ($976 million). A fourth of the shares were picked up by another group firm, Bharti Telecom, which holds 40.47 per cent of Airtel.

 

Following the stake sales, the total promoter holding in Bharti Airtel fell to 50.27 per cent, down from 53.11 per cent at the start of the year.

 

This comes at a time when the Airtel founder is seeking to acquire a 49 per cent stake in Chinese consumer appliances major Haier’s India entity. Mittal, along with global private equity giant Warburg Pincus, has been in talks with Haier for the stake purchase, with discussions ongoing around the valuation being sought by the Chinese company.