New Delhi: Telecom czar Sunil Bharti Mittal's family office-owned ICIL on Wednesday raised Rs 7,195 crore by selling a 0.56 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel to long-term investors through an open market transaction.Indian Continent Investment Ltd (ICIL) is one of the promoter entities in city-based Bharti Airtel.According to a regulatory filing, "The transaction attracted strong interest, receiving robust orders from marquee domestic and international long-only investors. Both new and existing shareholders of Airtel participated, with the placements majorly allocated to long-only investors".
According to the bulk deal data available on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), ICIL offloaded a total of 3.43 crore shares, representing a 0.56 per cent stake in the City-based Bharti Airtel.The shares were disposed of at an average price of Rs 2,097.81 apiece, taking the deal value to Rs 7,195.49 crore.Details of the buyers of Bharti Airtel's shares could not be ascertained on the exchange.
After the latest transaction, ICIL's holding in Bharti Airtel dropped to 0.92 per cent from 1.48 per cent.The promoter entities, including Bharti Telecom Ltd and Singtel's affiliate Pastel and Viridian, hold a 50.27 per cent stake in the telecom major, at the end of the September quarter, exchange data showed.On Wednesday, Bharti Airtel's promoter entity ICIL, in the filing, said that it has sold 0.56 per cent shareholding (34.30 million shares) in the flagship through a market transaction for an aggregate amount of Rs 7,200 crore.
This transaction is aligned with the publicly stated position that Bharti Telecom Ltd, a Bharti-controlled group subsidiary and the promoter of Airtel, will continue to be the principal vehicle to hold a controlling stake in Airtel, it added.Shares of Bharti Airtel fell 1.60 per cent to close at Rs 2,127 apiece on the NSE.Bharti Airtel earlier this month reported over twofold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 8,651 crore for the September quarter FY26, mainly on account of growth in high-paying smartphone customers and post-paid connections.
The company posted a profit of Rs 4,153.4 crore in the same period a year ago. Bharti Airtel Africa too had posted multifold growth in net income at Rs 969 crore during the quarter.Revenue from operations of Bharti Airtel increased by about 26 per cent to Rs 52,145 crore during the quarter from Rs 41,473.3 crore in the same period last year.Earlier this month, Singtel said it had sold about 0.8 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel for Rs 10,353 crore (SGD 1.5 billion), as it continues to proactively optimise its portfolio through asset recycling.
In August this year, ICIL divested nearly one per cent stake in telecom carrier Bharti Airtel for Rs 11,227 crore.In February, Bharti Airtel announced that ICIL had sold Airtel shares worth about Rs 8,485.11 crore through a market transaction.
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