Bharti Telecom acquires 3.33% Airtel stake from Singtel

Mumbai: Singapore Telecom Limited (Singtel) has decided to sell 3.33 percent of the shares of Bharti Airtel Limited to Bharti Telecom, the promoter of Airtel, for a total consideration of about $1.61 billion.

With this stake sale, Singapore Telecommunications Limited's effective holding in Bharti Airtel will be reduced to 29.7%.

"Bharti Enterprises and Singtel have enjoyed more than 20 years of a strong partnership based on mutual respect and trust, resulting in a rewarding outcome. During these years, Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel) has not only secured a strong leadership position across India, but also "has expanded to include a further 16 countries in Africa and South Asia," Bharti Airtel said in a stock exchange regulatory filing on Thursday.

During this period, Singtel and Bharti engaged in rights issues, share acquisitions and sales, while maintaining a healthy balance of capital in their respective shares under Bharti's control and management of Airtel.

Bharti and Singtel have decided to make some directional changes to their Airtel holdings and have agreed that “Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL), the promoter of Airtel, an entity owned by Bharti and Singtel, has been and will continue to be the primary vehicle with a majority stake in Airtel,” said Bharti Airtel.

Bharti Telecom Limited will consolidate its stake in Airtel. Consequently, Singtel and its subsidiaries have reached an agreement to transfer 3.33 percent of the shares to BTL for a total amount of approx. The company said S$2.25 billion ($1.61 billion), leaving Singtel and Bharti's direct shareholding in Airtel at 10 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

It added that the acquisition process will be completed in a period of 90 days.

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