Singapore-based telecom conglomerate Singtel’s subsidiary will sell shares worth ₹856 crore or a 0.8% stake in Bharti Airtel through a block deal on Friday, according to people in the know.
Pastel Ltd, Singtel’s subsidiary, will sell 47.6 million Bharti Airtel shares at an offer price of ₹1,800 per share. This is a 3.3% discount to the closing price of ₹1,863.10 on the National Stock Exchange. Brokerage JP Morgan will manage the deal.
Promoter group company Pastel holds a 9.49% stake in Bharti Airtel as of March, as per BSE. Singtel also partially owns Bharti Airtel’s parent company, Bharti Telecom.
The stock touched a 52-week high of ₹1,917 on 7 May on the NSE. On 15 May, Bharti Airtel shares closed 1.6% up at ₹1,867.20 on the NSE.
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Bharti Airtel reported revenue of ₹47,876 crore, up 27.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) in Q4FY25. The telecom company’s Ebitda was at ₹27,404 crore, up 39.9% y-o-y in Q4FY24.
The company’s India mobile services revenues were up 20.6% y-o-y, led by tariff repair, strong smartphone customer additions, and premiumization efforts. While Airtel’s business revenues were down 2.7% y-o-y.
The company’s capex for the January-March quarter was at ₹14,401 crore. BNP Paribas, in a report on 13 May, said, “While Q4FY25 capex was elevated, the company’s capex fell y-o-y in FY25 and it expects capex to reduce further in FY26, especially in the India Mobile segment. While overall capex is set to decline, the company is looking to invest in high-growth areas such as home broadband, enterprise and digital while reducing subsidies in the low-growth DTH (direct to home) business.”
Bharti Airtel has stepped up capex in the home broadband segment, as the industry could nearly double to 80-90 million subscribers in the medium term. The company will also continue to invest in high-growth areas such as cloud and data centres.