Indian Continent Investment Ltd, a promoter group entity of Bharti Airtel Ltd, on Friday sold a 1% stake worth about $1.28 billion ( ₹11,200 crore) in the company, the telecom operator said in an exchange filing.
The Sunil Mittal-led promoter group entity of Bharti Airtel offloaded 60 million shares in total—30 million shares at ₹1,870.40 apiece and another 30 million at ₹1,871.95 per share. The sale was at a discount of about 2.7% to Thursday’s closing price of ₹1,922.60.
The transaction received very strong orders from marque domestic and international long-only investors, including both new and existing shareholders of Airtel, the telco said in the filing, citing intimation it received from Indian Continent Investment.
“Accordingly, placements were dominantly allocated to long only investors,” it said in the filing. The names of the buyers were not disclosed.
Indian Continent Investment said the sale proceeds will be used to strengthen its balance sheet and help maintain a prudent leverage profile.
On Friday, shares of Bharti Airtel closed at ₹1,859.50 on the National Stock Exchange, a decline of 3.3% from Thursday’s closing price.
Jefferies and JP Morgan managed the transaction, according to the term sheet seen by Mint.
As of June end, Indian Continent Investment held a 2.47% stake in Bharti Airtel. Its first holding date was on 30 September 2007.
In February, Indian Continent Investment had offloaded a 0.84% stake in Bharti Airtel for ₹8,485 crore. At that time, Bharti Telecom Ltd, another promoter entity of the telco, had acquired nearly 24% of the stake sold by Indian Continent Investment.
Bharti Telecom had also acquired around 1.2% in Bharti Airtel from India Continent Investment in November by way of an off-market transaction.
Bharti Airtel reported consolidated revenue of ₹1.7 trillion in FY25, up 10.4% from the previous year. The telecom operator achieved a record-high revenue market share of 40% in mobile services during the year, according to the company’s FY25 annual report.
Arpu boost
The deal comes at a time when Bharti Airtel’s average revenue per user (Arpu) climbed to an industry-leading ₹250, as it continues its recovery from years of low tariffs. In the June quarter, Airtel’s Arpu rose by 2% or ₹5 sequentially. In comparison, India’s No. 1 carrier Reliance Jio’s Arpu rose to ₹208.8 from ₹206.2.
A stable quarter for Airtel comes as the telecom sector moves towards a duopoly, with operators Airtel and Jio eating into the market share of Vodafone Idea and state-owned BSNL
As of June end, Airtel’s total mobile subscriber base stood at 362.8 million.
