Singtel, a Singapore-based telecom company, has sold a 0.8% stake in Bharti Airtel. The deal was executed at $710.81 million. Singtel is one of the promoters of Airtel and back in 2022, the company had sold a 3.3% direct stake in the telco. After this deal, Singtel's stake in Airtel has reduced from 29.8% to 29%. Singtel said that it sold its stake in the company to fund the growth of its data center business and also reduce its overall debt.
At the time of writing this, Airtel's shares are trading at Rs 1208, about 1.23% higher than the previous closing price. Arthur Lang, CFO at Singtel, said, "We're pleased to have raised S$0.95 billion, while adding a marquee name to Airtel’s share base. The Group is now in an even stronger position to execute our disciplined capital approach of balancing investing for greater growth and delivering strong, sustainable returns for our shareholders."
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"Airtel continues to see steady growth across all its businesses and has been rewarded with strong market valuations. We believe there’s more room for growth given India’s accelerated digital transformation and we intend to stay invested for the long term while working with Bharti Enterprises to equalise our effective stake in Airtel over time."
To recall, Google had picked a 1.18% stake in Airtel in 2022 when its shares were trading at Rs 734 only. In the previous 52 weeks, Airtel's stock has given returns of more than 50%. Bharti Airtel is one of the leading telecom operators in India and also operates internationally in Africa. It has the second-largest market share in both wireline and wireless segments.
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Bharti Airtel's ARPU (average revenue per user) figure for Q3 FY24 was Rs 208, the highest in the industry. The telco offers the most premium-priced services in the industry when it comes to mobile plans.
