Bharti Telecom acquires 3.33% Airtel stake from Singtel in $1.61 billion deal

“Singtel and its affiliates have entered into an agreement to transfer 3.33% shares to BTL for an aggregate amount of approx. SGD 2.25 billion, leaving direct shareholding of Singtel and Bharti in Airtel at 10% and 6% respectively,” BTL said in an exchange filing Thursday.

It added that the acquisition would be completed over 90 days and that Bharti and Singtel have agreed to work towards equalizing their stakes in Airtel over a period of time. “BTL will calibrate and spread such acquisitions to maintain a comfortable level of leverage.”.

Further, BTL said that Bharti and Singtel have decided to make some directional shifts in their respective holdings in Airtel. But BTL — an entity held by Bharti and Singtel — would continue to be the principal vehicle to hold controlling shares in Airtel.

At present, the Mittals and Singtel own 50.56% and 49.44%, respectively, in Bharti Telecom that holds 35.85% in Bharti Airtel. In addition, Singtel and the Mittal family directly hold 14% and 6.04%, respectively, in the telco through investment firms. The effective shareholding of the Mittal family in Bharti Airtel is 24.13% while that of Singtel is 31.72%.

In its May 26 edition, ET had reported that Singtel had started talks with Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal to sell a small piece of its holding in the Indian telco to the Mittal family. Singtel has been a shareholder in Airtel – India’s second-largest telco — since 2000.