Airtel: Bharti Telecom, Singtel Amend Shareholders' Agreement To Align Business Needs

Bharti Airtel on Thursday said that Bharti Telecom and Singtel have mutually agreed to amend the existing shareholders’ agreement to better align with business requirements and governance standards, and that as part of the changes, Singtel has relinquished “several key reserved rights”.

Other changes include removing redundancy and making necessary revisions for clarity and governance, the telco explained in a BSE filing.

There is no impact on the management or control in the company due to these changes, Bharti Airtel said in a BSE filing.

"The existing shareholders’ agreement was executed on January 22, 2009, between the company, Bharti Telecom Limited, the promoter of the company (Bharti); and Pastel Limited (Singtel), part of the promoter group of the company...Bharti and Singtel have mutually agreed to amend the existing Shareholders’ Agreement on December 18, 2025," it said.

Bharti Telecom holds 246.61 crore equity shares of the company, constituting about 40.47% of the share capital of the company as on the date. Pastel Limited holds 45.62 crore equity shares of the company, constituting about 7.49% of the share capital of the company as on the date.

The amendment of the existing Shareholders’ Agreement is to 'better align with the business requirements and contemporary governance standards'.

"Key changes are as follows...Singtel has relinquished several key reserved rights. Other changes include removing redundancy and making necessary revisions for the sake of clarity and governance," it said.

The proposed changes reflect the evolving maturity of the relationship and a shared commitment to focus on Airtel’s growth, while respecting the governance obligations of both parties.

"It may be noted that these amendments are intended to simplify and rationalise the existing arrangement in line with best governance practices and do not confer any new rights on either party," the filing said.

These changes also necessitate consequent amendments to the Articles of Association of the telco. The company will be seeking approval of its shareholders for the amended Articles in due course.

It is pertinent to mention here that early last month, Singtel sold about 0.8% stake in Bharti Airtel for Rs 10,353 crore as it continued to proactively optimise its portfolio through asset recycling.

Following the stake sale announcement of Nov. 7, Singtel held 27.5% stake in Airtel, valued at an estimated SGD 51 billion (around Rs 3.46 lakh crore).