Airtel’s Committee of Directors ready to relinquish stake in Bharti Infratel

After a reporting a slide in bottom-line for the second quarter of financial year 2017-18, telecom major Airtel is gearing to sell more stake in its tower business subsidiary Bharti Infratel.

A company statement said, “Airtel has been approached by a few reputed global investors to acquire a significant stake in Bharti Infratel which, if accepted, could result in such investors acquiring control of Bharti Infratel. The COD (Committee of Directors) has recommended that such proposals be duly considered.”

According to the statement, the board had constituted a COD to evaluate selling stake in Bharti Infratel last year. After this, 13.96 per cent shares was sold to a Group of Private Equity Investors and to QIPs by way of market transactions.

Airtel currently holds directly and through its subsidiary an overall shareholding of 58 per cent in Bharti Infratel.

The board has authorised Airtel to continue evaluating and if found feasible, selling shares in Bharti Infratel in one or more tranches from Airtel or its subsidiary Nettle, the statement added.