Bharti Airtel acquires 1 pc equity stake in Indus Towers

Mumbai, June 19 (IANS) Bharti Airtel said on Wednesday it has acquired 1 per cent equity stake in telecommunications infrastructure company Indus Towers, after the UK’s Vodafone Group sold nearly 20 per cent shareholding in the firm.

In a stock exchange filing, Bharti Airtel said it bought 2.695 crore shares in Indus Towers ‘on-market’.

The telecom service provider had received the directors’ approval for acquisition of up to 2.7 crore (27 million) equity shares in Indus Towers Limited.

Before this deal, Bharti Airtel had 47.95 per cent equity stake in Indus Towers.

Bharti Airtel stock was down around 1.21 per cent at Rs 1,411 during the day trade.

Meanwhile, Vodafone Group has reportedly sold as many as 53.3 crore shares in Indus Towers for Rs 17,065 crore.

Reports earlier claimed Vodafone Group was looking to sell its entire $2.3 billion stake in Indus Towers through block deals.

As per reports, the Indus Towers block deal could be the second-largest in India following the ITC transaction earlier this year.

According to Nuvama Institutional Equities, the stake sale is of significant size and, therefore, the float adjustment in passive indices should happen in the next few days.

–IANS

na/rad