Bharti Airtel buys extra 1% in Indus in all-cash deal, now holds nearly 49% in towerco

Bharti Airtel has acquired another 1% stake in Indus Towers for an undisclosed sum via an all-cash block deal, boosting its stake in the telecom tower company to 48.95% and inching closer to having a majority ownership.

“… a Special Committee of Directors for evaluation of stake in Subsidiaries and Joint Ventures’ has today approved the acquisition of upto 27 million equity shares in Indus Towers in accordance with the applicable regulations. Accordingly, with the aforesaid approval of the Special Committee, the Company has acquired ~26.95 million (i.e. 1%) equity shares of Indus Towers today on-market,” Bharti Airtel said in an NSE filing Wednesday.

Earlier this year, Airtel managing director Gopal Vittal had said that the Sunil Mittal-led telco — the largest stakeholder of Indus Towers — is committed to ensuring the tower company remains strong, and that it won’t hesitate to take over the reins to prevent any instability caused by key customer, Vodafone Idea’s financial challenges.

However, in the backdrop of Vi’s recent capital raise, Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal had recently told ET that Vi must clear all of Indus’ past dues, failing which, the struggling telco won’t be allowed to use the tower company’s infrastructure for any new services such as 5G. Vi is reckoned to owe nearly Rs 10,000 crore in old dues (including interest) to Indus.

Airtel’s acquisition of additional shares in Indus come even as UK’s Vodafone Plc is set to sell nearly 18% ownership — out of its 21.05% stake — in Indus Towers today via block deals, according to a revised term sheet issued by the British carrier’s bankers.

Shares of Indus were down 4.55% to Rs 328.25 in Wednesday morning trade on the BSE, while Airtel shares were trading 1.17% lower at Rs 1,412 on the exchange.