Qatar Foundation Endowment, through its Asia-Pacific regional holding company Three Pillars, has sold its entire 5% stake in Bharti Airtel for around Rs 9600 crore. In a statement, QFE said that the block trade was priced at Rs 481 per share, a discount of 6.4% to the previous closing price as of 7th November 2017.
TPPL’s representative on Bharti Airtel’s Board of Directors will step down immediately post settlement of the sale.
“We are delighted to have partnered with Bharti Airtel through an important stage of their growth. Bharti Airtel has successfully maintained its market-leading position, and its positive momentum has led to our investment performing well. The QFE Group will reinvest the proceeds globally, as we continue to grow and diversify our portfolio. We remain firm supporters of the Bharti Airtel business, the management team and their strategy, and wish them well in the future," Rashid Al-Naimi, Chief Executive Officer of QFE, said in a statement.
QFE said that UBS acted as Sole Bookrunner on this transaction.
In May 2013, TPPL invested Rs 68 billion in Bharti Airtel, to strengthen the capital structure and allow further investment for growth. The investment saw TPPL acquire 199,870,006 shares at a price of Rs 340 per share. Given the sale price of Rs 481 per share, the sale of this stake realises a significant gain for TPPL.
The proceeds of the share sale will be reinvested as part of the QFE Group’s ongoing global portfolio growth and diversification, as it seeks to generate long-term financial returns by investing across a range of asset-classes, industries and geographies.
Bharti Telecom Ltd, the holding company of Airtel, recently acquired as much as 4.62% in the telco. With this transaction, Bharti Telecom’s stake in Airtel increased to 50.1% from 45.48%.
Bharti Telecom and Bharti Airtel Ltd's promoters currently own 51% in Bharti Telecom and around 30% effective stake in Airtel.
