Mittal family taps I-banks to ready a $2 billion credit line for Singtel stake

The Mittal family via promoter entities has sounded out about half a dozen investment banks to raise around $2 billion (around ₹15,500 crore) via onshore/offshore credit lines, people familiar with the matter said. The funds will be used to buy a small portion of Singapore Telecommunications' (Singtel's) holding in Bharti Airtel.

The Mittal family is learnt to be in talks with the likes of Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Citibank, JP Morgan and Standard Chartered for the credit lines, aggregating around $2 billion, the sources said. "Bharti entities are talking to at least half a dozen foreign banks, although final terms are not yet fixed. The proposed purchase of a part of Singtel's stake in Airtel is expected soon," an investment banker aware of the matter told ET.

Bharti Airtel, Bharti Group, Singtel and the banks did not comment on ET's emailed queries. The Mittals are believed to be exploring all possible funding avenues, including bridge loans, bonds and even structured financing for the fundraise.


The Mittals and Singtel own 50.56% and 49.44%, respectively, in Bharti Telecom that holds 35.85% in Bharti Airtel. In addition, Singtel and the Mittal family directly hold 14% and 6.04%, respectively, in the telco through investment firms. The effective shareholding of the Mittal family in Bharti Airtel is 24.13% while that of Singtel is 31.72%.

In its May 26 edition, ET reported that Singtel had started talks with Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal to sell a small piece of its holding in the Indian telco to the Mittal family.

Shareholder Since 2000
Singtel has been a shareholder in Airtel - India's second-largest telco - since 2000.

While the exact quantum and details of the transaction are yet to be worked out, people in the know said that the Singapore company could sell stake worth $1-2 billion to the Indian promoter through a mix of Bharti Telecom and Bharti Airtel share sales.

Airtel's stock ended on Wednesday at Rs 694.25, down 1% from the previous closing. This gave the telco a market capitalisation of around Rs 3.81 lakh crore. If the Mittal family buys Singtel shares worth $2 billion, it would reduce the Southeast Asian telecom carrier's overall holding in Airtel by close to 4%. Singtel's 31.72% stake in Airtel is now worth around $15.6 billion.

People aware of the discussions told ET that Singtel, as part of its portfolio management strategy, is keen to book some profit by selling Bharti shares and redeploying some of the capital in new investment opportunities.

Last Friday, Singtel said its underlying net profit for fiscal year 2022 grew 11% from the year before to S$1.92 billion, mainly lifted by associate company Bharti Airtel's resilient turnaround. Airtel posted a nearly 164% on-year jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,007.8 crore in the March quarter. This was its sixth successive quarter in the black.

Singtel, in response to an earlier ET query last week on whether it was looking to sell a part of its holding in the Indian telco, had said Airtel "remained a core investment in its international portfolio".