Bharti Infratel declines 3% as Airtel mulls stake sale

NEW DELHI: Shares of Bharti Infratel declined over 3 per cent in Wednesday's trade amid reports that a clutch of global investors have approached Bharti Airtel showing interest in buying a significant stake in its listed tower unit.

Bharti Airtel owns 58 per cent stake in the tower company. Any such deal is seen helping the telecom operator pare its Rs 91,480 crore debt and build a war chest to compete aggressively with moneyed new entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm.

Following the development, the stock fell 3.29 per cent to hit a low of Rs 427.40 on BSE.

If the company accepts the proposal, it “could result in such investors acquiring control of Bharti Infratel,” Airtel said in an exchange filing after market hours on Tuesday.

A committee of directors (CoD), constituted by the Bharti Airtel board a year ago to evaluate a stake sale in Bharti Infratel, has recommended that such proposals “be duly considered”, it said.

The Sunil Mittal-led telco, however, said it has “not entered into any agreements in relation to any such proposal or discussions, and there is no certainty of any transaction until such time the board reviews and approves a final proposal”.