Bharti Infratel board to meet today

Telecom infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel’s board will meet today to decide the future course of action, after it received Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) approval for the merger with Indus Towers. “Please be informed that FDI approval for merger of Indus Towers with Bharti Infratel has been received late evening yesterday,” Bharti Infratel, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, said in a regulatory filing.

The deal, however, would still miss the February 24 deadline as certain regulatory approvals, including clearances from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is awaited, sources close to the development told BusinessLine on February 21.

Indus Towers is a three-way joint venture between Bharti Infratel, Vodafone Idea and UK-based Vodafone Group.

While Bharti Infratel (in which Bharti Airtel holds a 53.51 per cent stake) and Vodafone Group hold 42 per cent stake in Indus, Vodafone India Ltd has an 11.15 per cent stake and the remaining 4.85 per cent is held by private equity firm, Providence Equity Partners.

The proposal had earlier received Competition Commission of India (CCI) and certain regulatory clearances including that from the National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) Chandigarh Bench in June 2019. VIL, which is selling its entire 11.15 per cent stake, is expected to rake in about Rs 4,500-5,000 crore from the deal.

On April 25, 2018, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular (along with its subsidiary ABTL and Idea Group) and Vodafone Group entered into an agreement to merge Vodafone’s, Idea Group’s and Providence Equity Partners’ shareholdings in Indus Towers into Bharti Infratel creating a combined company that will own 100 per cent of Indus Towers.

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