Billionaire Sunil Mittal's firm sells Airtel stake worth $976 million

By P R Sanjai

   

A unit owned by billionaire-founder Sunil Bharti Mittal sold shares worth $976 million in India’s No.2 wireless carrier, as the first-generation entrepreneur seeks funds for newer opportunities.

 

Indian Continental Investment Ltd., a founder entity of Bharti Airtel Ltd. sold 0.84 per cent stake or 51 million shares for Rs 8,485 crore ($976 million), nearly a fourth of which were picked up by another group firm Bharti Telecom Ltd., according to an exchange filing Tuesday.  

Names of other investors were not disclosed in the trade that happened at Rs 1660.46 per share, a small discount to Monday’s close of Rs 1,675.6. The shares were “allocated only to key marquee long only names, both global and domestic,” the filing said. 

 

The sale comes at a time when Mittal is expanding his business operations overseas with investments in Africa and UK-based satellite company OneWeb, which merged with Eutelsat in 2023. A unit of closely held Bharti Enterprises Ltd. bought a 24.5 per cent stake in BT Group Plc last year.

 

With this week’s transaction, Bharti Telecom now holds 40.47 per cent of Airtel, reinforcing its “previously stated intent of strengthening its position as the principal vehicle to hold controlling stake in Airtel,” the wireless carries said in an exchange filing Tuesday.

 

Bharti Telecom had acquired about 1.2 per cent in Airtel from Indian Continental Investment in November, the filing said, boosting shareholding in the wireless carrier that competes with billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.