Bharti Airtel is talks with Vodafone Plc to buy 3 per cent additional stake in telecom towers company Indus Towers, reported CNBC TV18, citing unidentified sources. Bharti Airtel stock was little changed. It was trading at Rs 1,414.3, marginally down from the previous close.
Earlier, last week, Vodafone group had sold Indus Towers stake in block deals that saw 20 percent equity in the company change hands for Rs 17,200 crore. Bharti Airtel had bought 1 per cent additional stake in Indus Towers in the transaction, taking its holding in the towers company to nearly 49 percent.
The proposed additional stake acquisition would make Bharti Airtel the majority stakeholder in Indus Towers, taking it past 50 per cent mark. Airtel plans to Indus Towers with its data centre business Nxtra, reported CNBC TV18.
The merger would unlock value, and would also give exit to Carlyle from its investment. Private Equity major Carlyle had bought a 24 per cent stake in Nxtra in 2020.
Consolidation of the majority shareholding in Indus Towers, and then merging it with the data centre business is apparently part of Bharti Airtel’s mega plan to of two-pronged strategy to capitalise on Indus Towers.
Comments
0 comment