Bharti Airtel announced on Wednesday that it has acquired a 1% equity stake in telecommunications infrastructure company Indus Towers. This follows the sale of nearly 20% of Indus Towers’ shares by the UK’s Vodafone Group.
In a stock exchange filing, Bharti Airtel confirmed the purchase of 2.695 crore shares in Indus Towers through on-market transactions. The telecom service provider had previously received director approval to acquire up to 2.7 crore (27 million) equity shares in Indus Towers Limited. Prior to this deal, Bharti Airtel held a 47.95% equity stake in Indus Towers. During the day’s trading, Bharti Airtel stock experienced a decline of approximately 1.21%, reaching Rs 1,411.
Meanwhile, reports suggest that Vodafone Group sold a substantial 53.3 crore shares in Indus Towers for a total of Rs 17,065 crore. Earlier reports indicated Vodafone Group’s intention to divest its entire $2.3 billion stake in Indus Towers through block deals.
According to reports, the Indus Towers block deal could potentially be the second-largest transaction in India, following the ITC transaction earlier this year. Nuvama Institutional Equities has stated that the stake sale is significant in size and expects passive index float adjustments to occur within the next few days.
