Singtel sells 0.8% stake in Airtel to GQG Partners for Rs 5,885 crore

Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) has sold a 0.8% stake in Bharti Airtel to US investment firm GQG Partners for about ₹5,884.8 crore (S$950 million) as part of its value unlocking strategy and to raise funds for other ventures like data centres.

Singtel, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Pastel, sold 49 million shares of Bharti Airtel at ₹ 1,193.7 apiece.

Shares of Airtel touched a 52-week high of ₹1,213.05 apiece on the BSE on Thursday. They closed nearly 1% higher at ₹ 1,203.50 apiece.


Following the transaction, Singtel's stake in Bharti Airtel will drop to 29%. Singtel's stake after the transaction is valued at around $33 billion.

The resultant gain from the sale is estimated at S$700 million, Singtel said without elaborating.

The Singapore telco has been steadily paring its holding in Airtel. In 2022, it sold a 3.3% direct stake in Airtel for about S$2.54 billion.

This transaction is the latest in Singtel Group's capital recycling efforts to unlock value from its assets, bringing the total capital recycled to S$8 billion since its strategic reset in 2021. "This has allowed the group to fund the growth of its data centre and IT services, as well as reduce net debt by S$3.2 billion as of September 2023," Singtel said in a statement. Further, it said the group has returned S$800 million in special dividends to shareholders from capital recycling, contributing to cumulative dividends of S$5.2 billion paid out to shareholders since April 2022.

Fitch Ratings upgraded Singtel's ratings to A+ from A in January. This was driven by a favourable view on the management's focus on improving its leverage besides rising Ebitda.