Bharti Airtel, the nation’s second-largest telecom player, has decided to use the proceeds from its recent block deal for financing loans taken for its investment in British Telecom (BT), reports CNBC-TV18.
On February 18, the block deal for the sale of 5.1 crore shares worth ₹8,475 crore took place on the exchanges. In this sale, the seller was the Bharti Airtel promoter entity Indian Continent Investment disposing of the firm’s 0.9% stake.
Bharti Airtel confirmed later that the sale of the 0.84% stake did happen, whereby the shares were purchased by the other promoter entity Bharti Telecom for 1.20 crore shares.
Major Buyers in the Deal
Several top institutional investors participated in the block deal:
- SBI Life Insurance bought 3.01 million shares for ₹500 crore.
- NPS Trust purchased 2.71 million shares for ₹450 crore.
- Vanguard acquired 1.7 million shares for ₹282 crore.
- Other key buyers included Reliance Trust Insti, Fidelity, India Acorn Fund, Nordea, Redwheel, AustralianSuper, and ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, who each picked up shares worth ₹120-259 crore.
Strong Financial Performance
Bharti Airtel reported a 505% jump in net profit, reaching ₹14,781 crore for the December 2024 quarter (Q3FY25), compared to ₹2,442 crore in the year-ago period. The sharp rise in profit was due to a one-time gain of ₹7,546 crore from the consolidation of a majority stake in Indus Towers.
The company’s revenue grew 19% YoY to ₹45,129 crore in Q3FY25, compared to ₹37,900 crore in Q3FY24.
Growth in Customer Base
- Airtel added 0.6 million postpaid customers in Q3FY25, bringing its total postpaid customer base to 25.3 million.
- The company’s market share in the smartphone segment continued to rise, with an addition of 25.2 million customers, marking a 10.3% YoY increase.
With a strong market position and strategic refinancing, Bharti Airtel remains a key player in India’s telecom sector.
Do you have a news tip for Lakshmishree reporters? Please email us at media@lakshmishree.com.
Source: Moneycontrol
News Desk
