Bharti Infratel has window till December to list IPO

NEW DELHI: Sunil Bharti Mittal's tower business, Bharti Infratel, has to list by December this year, failing which, co-owned Indus Towers will have the option to go ahead with it's IPO, sources with direct knowledge said.

In an agreement between the shareholders of Indus, Vodafone, Bharti and Idea, the three agreed to let Bharti Infratel list it's business on the stock exchanges in a time frame of six months, since the deal was signed in June, Bharti is now left with only three months to close the issue.

Agreement between the shareholders of Indus Towers also states that if Bharti Infratel is successful in listing it's IPO within the stipulated timeline, then Indus can make it's initial public offering only after six months of the listing of Bharti Infratel.

The premise of this agreement is the limited appetite in the market for new listings. Sources say, the co-owners of Indus feel there should be enough time between the two tower business listings and have agreed to a gap of six months.

Bharti Group has put the Infratel listing on the fast track and the DRHP is expected to be filed with SEBI tomorrow. Bharti is looking at raising Rs 5000 crores by selling 10% stake in the tower business via an IPO.

The company owns over 33,000 towers across 18 states, and 11 Telecom circles. The company owns 42% stake in Indus Towers, Vodafone and Idea are it's co-owners in Indus with 42% and 16% stake respectively.

In an e-mail statement Bharti spokesperson said, "As a policy we do not comment on matters related to our shareholders."