AGR: Airtel raises $3 billion via share, FCCB issues

Kolkata: Bharti Airtel has raised $3 billion (Rs 21,240 crore) through a combination of private placement of shares and an overseas sale of convertible bonds, as the telecom operator readies a war chest to pay more than Rs 35,500 crore in statutory dues.

The Sunil Mittal-led telco said on Wednesday it raised $2 billion through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) and $1 billion via foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs), in what it called “the largest ever dual tranche equity and FCCB offering in the Asia-Pacific”.

Global investors including GIC, Fidelity, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Schroder, Warburg Pincus, Segantii Capital, Barclays, JP Morgan, UBS, BNP Paribas and Lombard Odier were among the big names that participated in one of the offers or both, people in the know told ET.