Bharti Airtel to invest $500 million to be OneWeb’s largest shareholder

Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said it would invest $500 million to become the largest shareholder in the satellite communications company OneWeb, which Bharti Group, along with the British government, rescued from bankruptcy last year.

“OneWeb has completed its transformation with the exercise of a call option by Bharti to invest an additional $500 m into the company,” Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

The investment is a result of a “call option” by Bharti. On completing the transaction and with Eutelsat’s $550-million investment, Bharti will hold 38.6 per cent.

The British government, Eutelsat, and SoftBank will each own 19.3 per cent, OneWeb said in a statement.