Bharti Telecom Acquires 1.2 Crore Shares Of Airtel At Rs 1,660 Apiece

Indian Continent Investment Ltd., a promoter-group entity of Bharti Airtel Ltd., offloaded an 0.84% stake worth Rs 8,485.1 crore through a market transaction on Tuesday.

ICIL sold approximately 5.11 crore shares in the telecom company at Rs 1,660 apiece. Bharti Telecom Ltd., another promoter of Airtel, anchored the trade by acquiring about 1.2 crore shares or 24% of ICIL's sale, according to an exchange filing. The move helped the "overall book to be allocated only to key marquee long only names, both global and domestic".

Other investors included GQG Partners, which through its affiliates, bought 1.97 crore shares or a 0.32% stake.

With the move, Bharti Telecom now holds about 40.47% stake in Airtel. This transaction follows Bharti Telecom's recent acquisition of an additional stake of about 1.2% or approximately 7.31 crore shares in Airtel from ICIL in November.

The move reinforces its previously stated intent of strengthening its position as the principal vehicle to hold controlling stake in Airtel, remaining focused on gradually increasing its stake while maintaining a prudent leverage profile as it does so, the filing said.

Airtel's consolidated net profit surged over fourfold sequentially in the third quarter of the current financial year, beating analysts' estimates.

The telecom giant reported a net profit of Rs 14,781.2 crore during the October–December period, compared to Rs 3,593.2 crore in the previous quarter. The increase in profit before tax can be attributed to a net exceptional item amounting to Rs 7,545.6 crore.

Shares of Airtel closed 0.43% lower at Rs 1,668.40 apiece on the BSE, compared to a 0.04% decline in the benchmark Sensex.