Bharti Airtel shares gain 2% on fundraising plans

Shares of Bharti Airtel gained over 2 per cent in early trade on Friday after the telecom major on Thursday set up a committee to explore options to raise funds to strengthen its capital structure.

The scrip was trading 2.17 per cent up at Rs 323 at around 9.50 am (IST), while the BSE Sensex was down 40 points at 36,391 at around the same time.

The company also decided to sell 32 per cent stake in Bharti Infratel to its wholly-owned subsidiary Nettle Infrastructure Investments for potential monetisation of the stake in future.


Bharti Airtel also announced the appointment of Badal Bagri as the Chief Financial Officer, with effect from March 1, 2019.

“The Board of Directors of the company has formed and authorised 'Special Committee of Directors for Fund Raising' to comprehensively explore and evaluate various options of fund-raising for the company to strengthen its capital structure and balance sheet and place the final recommendation before the Board for its approval or final decision," Bharti Airtel said in a BSE filing.

With the latest sale or stakes, Bharti Airtel’s share in Infratel would be 18.33 per cent, Nettle would have 35.18 per cent and the remaining 46.49 per cent stake would be held by the public and other shareholders, Bharti Airtel said in the filing.