Bharti Airtel Board Approves Fund Raising Plans of Up to Rs 32,000 Crore Through Mix of Rights Issue

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Thursday said its Board has approved fundraising plans of up to Rs 32,000 crore through a mix of rights issue and bond, a move that will arm the company with firepower to take on market competition intensified by Reliance Jio and help it cut debt. The mega fund-raising plans outlined by Bharti Airtel comes just days after Vodafone and Aditya Birla Group said they would infuse over Rs 18,000 crore into India’s largest telecom operator Vodafone Idea Ltd through a rights issue. In a statement, Bharti Airtel said the Board of Directors have “approved the fundraising of up to Rs 32,000 crore through rights issuance of up to Rs 25,000 crore and Perpetual Bond with equity credit up to Rs 7,000 crore”.

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Perpetual bond of up to USD 1 billion (about Rs 7,000 crores) denominated in foreign currency is “subject to price, market conditions and other terms and conditions as acceptable, and with conditions allowing for full accounting equity credit and subject to all applicable laws…”

The terms of the rights issue cleared by the Board include price of Rs 220 per fully paid equity share (a premium of Rs 215 per fully paid equity share over face value of Rs 5 per share); and a rights entitlement ratio of 19 shares for every 67 shares held by eligible shareholders, the statement added.

The Board has authorised the ‘Special Committee of Directors for Fund Raising’ to proceed with rights issue, and determine its terms and conditions including setting the record date, finalisation of the Letter of Offer and other details, and also authorised the ‘Committee of Directors’ to decide, assess and conclude on the issuance of the Perpetual Bond.