Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) sold a 2.75% stake to overseas investors such as Blackrock, Fidelity, Segantii Capital, Norges Bank and Key Square Capital, and local fund houses including HDFC Mutual Fund and SBI Mutual Fund, for Rs 8,433 crores.
“On the back of such a strong demand from international and domestic investors, the amount raised was increased to around $1.15 billion (compared with $1 billion initially planned),” Harjeet Kohli, Group Director, Bharti Enterprises, said in a statement.
Other overseas buyers include Jane Street and Marshall Wace, and local fund houses such as Birla Mutual Fund and Axis Mutual Fund, said a person aware of the matter.
“With the proceeds, BTL will become a zero-debt company, providing an even stronger financial flexibility and capacity to provide any additional shareholder support as may be desired by Bharti Airtel from time to time,” Kohli added.The allocation was done to more than 50 accounts, with the top 10 getting two-thirds of overall allocation, BTL said in the statement.
The deal was announced after market hours. Bharti Airtel shares closed 5.71% lower on the Bombay Stock Exchange at Rs 559.15, after plunging 6% in intraday trade, in the run-up to the official deal announcement. The floor price of the sale was Rs 558 a share.
BTL’s stake in Bharti Airtel fell to around 36% after the deal. Correspondingly, the combined 58.98% holding of Bharti Airtel’s promoter group – Sunil Mittal-owned entities and Singtel – came down to 56.23%. Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Enterprises and Singtel own 50.56% and 49.44%, respectively, in BTL. In addition to BTL, the other promoter companies of Bharti Airtel are Indian Continent Investment Ltd, Viridian Ltd and Pastel Ltd.
The BTL stake sale also lowered the effective shareholding of Bharti Airtel’s promoter group entities, SingTel and the Mittal family, to under 32% from 33.3% and to about 24% from 25.7%, respectively. GIC of Singapore has a 2.79% stake in Bharti Airtel.
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