Bharti sells stake in tower biz for Rs 3,325 cr to trim debt
New Delhi, Nov 14 (PTI) Bharti Airtel said today that ithas sold 83 million shares in its mobile tower subsidiary,Bharti Infratel, for over Rs 3,325 crore via stock market dealand will use the proceeds to pare debts.
The secondary share sale was executed at Rs 400.6 pershare, representing 3.6 per cent discount to the previousday's closing price, Airtel said in a statement.
The buyers included global investors, fund managers andlong-only funds, including many repeat investors, it said,adding that the deal was upsized by over 25 per cent given"healthy investor appetite".
"Bharti Airtel will primarily use the proceeds from thissale to reduce its debt," the statement added.
The consolidated debt of the Sunil Mittal-owned companywas Rs 91,480 crore as on September 2017.
Like other incumbent operators, the country's largesttelecom company has been locked in a fierce tariff war withnewcomer Reliance Jio in the mobile telephony market.
After today's share sale, the stake of Bharti Airtel andits wholly-owned subsidiaries in Bharti Infratel would comedown to 53.51 per cent.
According to BSE data, the promoters' holding in thetower infrastructure company stood at 58 per cent as onSeptember 2017.
The sale was carried out by Airtel via its wholly-ownedsubsidiary, Nettle Infrastructure Investments.
Announcing the "successful divestment" of 83 millionshares in Bharti Infratel, the company said: "The sale was fora total consideration of over Rs 3,325 crore (USD 510 million)and was executed at a price of Rs 400.6 per share,representing a discount of 3.6 per cent to the previousday's closing price."JP Morgan, UBS and Goldman Sachs were joint placementagents for the transaction.
Telecom tower companies have been grabbing the headlinesover the last few weeks.
Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, which are headed for amerger, said yesterday that they have separately decided tosell their tower businesses in India to ATC TelecomInfrastructure for Rs 7,850 crore.
Late last month, Bharti Airtel said that a few "reputed"global investors had approached it for buying a controllingstake in Bharti Infratel, which, in turn, had just announcedthat it will explore acquiring more stake in joint ventureIndus Towers. Bharti Infratel and Vodafone India hold 42 percent stake in Indus Towers and rest is held by Idea Cellular.
In the same breath, Airtel's board had also authorisedthe telecom firm to continue evaluating and selling shares inBharti Infratel in one or more tranches from Airtel itself orits subsidiary Nettle.
Airtel had, earlier this year, sold 10.3 per cent stakein Bharti Infratel to a consortium of KKR and Canada PensionPlan Investment Board for Rs 6,193.9 crore. PTI MBISA.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.