Bharti Airtel promoters need to invest Rs 16,750 crore in company rights issue: Analysts

Kolkata: Bharti Airtel promoters Singtel and the Mittal family will need to jointly invest $2.4 billion (Rs 16,750 crore) in the telecom company’s upcoming $3.5 billion rights issue, which will sharply reduce its leverage when completed, analysts said.
Reduced leverage and a stronger balance sheet would give India’s second-largest telco headroom to spend on 4G networks and bid aggressively for 5G spectrum to effectively combat Reliance Jio Infocomm, they said.
Credit Suisse estimates the rights issue requires “Singtel and the Mittals to contribute $1.4 billion and $1 billion, respectively, given the high promoter ownership in Bharti Airtel” and added that it needs to be seen if “the relative shareholdings within these promoter groups undergo any change.”