Bharti Airtel climbs 3% as arm ups stake in Nigerian venture

NEW DELHI: Shares of Bharti Airtel surged nearly 3 per cent in Monday’s trade after the telecom major said in a brief note to BSE that one of its arm, Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands), has completed the acquisition of Econet Wireless’ entire 4.2 per cent shareholding in Airtel Nigeria through a wholly-owned subsidiary.

As a result, Airtel’s overall holding in Airtel Nigeria has increased to 83.25 per cent. Following the announcement, the stock rose 3.04 per cent to hit a high of Rs 310 on BSE.

After acquiring Zain's Telecom business in 2010, Airtel ran into a dispute with Econet Wireless, the minority stakeholder in Zain Telecom, potentially facing a payout claimed by Econet Wireless in its Nigerian unit, ET Telecom reported.


Earlier this month, the Sunil Mittal-run telco reached a settlement with Econet Wireless, the ETTelecom report said.

JM Financial has maintained a buy rating on the stock “given its estimated spectrum profile and balance sheet; capex and net-debt peaking in FY17; projected FCFF yield of 5 per cent in FY18; and attractive valuation (forward EV/Ebitda of 5.9 times is 12 per cent below the trailing three-year (TTY) average of 6.6 times).”