Airtel says no plans to sell stake

Bharti Airtel on Monday said there was no proposal to sell a stake in the company, responding to a news report that said Soft-Bank was in preliminary talks to acquire a stake directly or indirectly.

“…it is clarified that at this juncture, there is no proposal for sale of stake in Bharti Airtel, either directly or indirectly,” the telco said in a notice to stock exchanges. The statement added that the company did not wish to comment on the “speculative news item” that appeared on Monday. The news report comes a week after ET reported that Airtel had applied for approval to increase foreign direct investment to 100% as promoter entities — which may include its own overseas entities and Singtel — were planning to infuse capital in holding company Bharti Telecom.