Bharti Airtel Ltd has raised ₹2,100 crore by selling a 4.5 per cent stake in its telecom tower subsidiary, Bharti Infratel. The sale, to comply with SEBI’s minimum public shareholding norm of 25 per cent, took place in the open market.
Airtel sold 85 million shares of Bharti Infratel to bring down its holding to 74.86 per cent.
The Offer for Sale, which opened and closed on Thursday on the BSE and the NSE, was for 45 million shares, with a green shoe option to sell an additional 40 million shares. A green shoe option allows a company to sell more shares than originally planned.
The offer for sale was over-subscribed 2.4 times as bids came for about 204 million shares.
As against the floor price of ₹250, the indicative price was ₹251.71 — the price at which the company received bids for the maximum number of shares.
Akhil Gupta, Vice-Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said in a statement that the proceeds from the share sale will allow Bharti Airtel to bring down its debt.
The net debt of the company stood at $9.6 billion as of June end. Bharti Airtel has announced plans to sell its telecom towers in Africa in a bid to raise funds.
Global responseIn a statement, Bharti Airtel Group Treasurer Harjeet Kohli said: “The OFS got a global response, with investors, including new ones, participating from the US, Asia, Europe and India, leading to it being the largest OFS from the Indian private sector.
While broadening the investor base, this offer will also provide higher trading volumes in Bharti Infratel stock.”
Bharti Infratel owns 83,000 towers and has posted a consolidated net profit of ₹462.8 crore for the quarter ended June 30, compared with ₹357.6 crore in the year-ago quarter.
Total Income increased to ₹2,959.9 crore (₹2,777.6 crore). The company had raised ₹3,165.7 crore in 2012 though its initial public offering.
DSP Merrill Lynch Ltd, JP Morgan India and UBS Securities India Private Ltd were the brokers for the offer.
Bharti Airtel’s share price was nearly flat at ₹366 on the BSE on Thursday, while Bharti Infratel’s stock was down 6.59 per cent at ₹253.