Bharti Telecom to sell 2.75% stake in Airtel to raise $1 billion

To clean up debt and bring it to the level of zero at the promoter level, Bharti Telecom — the promoter group of Bharti Airtel — will sell 2.75% stake in the latter to raise about $1 billion through a secondary market block deal on Tuesday, sources said on Monday.

The block deal will be conducted by JP Morgan India at around Rs 558 per share, close to 6% discount to the closing price of Rs 593.20 on May 22 on the NSE. As of March, Bharti Telecom held about 38.79% stake in Bharti Airtel which will get reduced by 2.75% after the deal. The total promoter shareholding as per exchange data currently stands at 58.98%.