Singtel, Singapore’s telecom giant, is likely to sell shares worth $1 billion (about Rs 8,570 crore) in Bharti Airtel through a large block deal on Friday. The deal involves the sale of 4.76 crore shares, with the floor price set at Rs 1,800 per share — a 3.6% discount to Bharti Airtel’s last traded market price.
The deal will be managed by JP Morgan, the designated broker for the transaction. Singtel's Pastel currently holds a 9.49% stake in Bharti Airtel, and this sale will reduce its holding by just under 1%.
Singtel had previously offloaded part of its stake in Airtel in March last year. It had then sold a 0.8% stake in Airtel, or 49 million shares, to US investment management firm GQG Partners for $711 million. SBI Pension, SBI Life and ICICI Prudential had also participated in the share purchase.
Before that, Pastel sold a 1.59% stake in Bharti Airtel for Rs 7,261 crore in November 2022. This stake sale had come months after Singtel had offloaded 3.3% stake in Bharti Airtel to BTL for Rs 12,895 crore, equivalent to $1.6 billion, in August 2022.
The stake sale by Singtel in one of India’s biggest companies (in terms of market capitalization) is in line with its broader capital recycling strategy to reallocate capital toward its core and digital businesses.
Singtel has a direct 9.5% ownership through its affiliate, Pastel. It also has an indirect interest in Airtel, totalling 29%, through its 49.44% stake in Bharti Telecom Ltd (BTL), the primary promoter entity of Airtel. BTL itself owns a 40.47% stake in Airtel.
Bharti Airtel recently reported a 77% year-on-year surge in its adjusted profit after tax (PAT) to Rs 5,223 crore during the March quarter (Q4FY25). The telco’s revenue grew by 27% during the quarter to Rs 47,876 crore.