Who bought $1.5 billion worth Bharti Airtel shares today? Singtel answers

Singtel on Friday confirmed it has sold 1.2 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel Ltd via a private placement to international and Indian institutional investors for two billion Singapore dollars ($1.54 billion as per exchange rate). The buyers included some of Bharti Airtel's existing shareholders. The stake sale was carried by Singtel as a part of its active capital management strategy to optimise asset portfolio and drive shareholder returns, the Singaporean telecom giant said in a press release. 

Earlier, it was reported that Pastel, a wholly-owned arm, was looking to sell about 4.76 crore Bharti Airtel shares at dollar-rupee exchange rate of 85.68. The floor price for the same was set at Rs 1,800 apiece, which was at 3.6 per cent discount to Thursday's closing price of Rs 1,867.20

Singtel said the private placement received strong interest from existing shareholders and new investors, and was well oversubscribed, resulting in both an increase in transaction size as well as tighter final pricing than initial guidance. 

A large majority of the transaction was sold to domestic mutual funds and international long-only funds, it said.

Following the transaction, Singtel now holds 28.3 per cent stake in Airtel, valued at an estimated S$48 billion (Singapore dollars) or $37 billion. Singtel generated an estimated gain of S$1.4 billion from the deal. 

In 2022 and 2024 also, Singtel raised a total of approximately S$3.5 billion from the progressive sale of Airtel shares – a 3.3 per cent stake to Bharti Telecom and 0.8 per cent direct stake to GQG Partners respectively. This helped the company to support its 5G deployment, digital infrastructure expansion and sustainable shareholder distributions.

Arthur Lang, Singtel’s Group Chief Financial Officer, said, “This transaction allows us to crystalise value at an attractive valuation while remaining a significant shareholder of Airtel. We are pleased to welcome new like-minded investors who share our conviction in Airtel’s strong growth potential as India pursues its vision of achieving a US$1 trillion digital economy. This will further strengthen Airtel’s shareholder base so that we can collectively support its long-term growth.”

He added, “The divestment underscores Singtel’s commitment to disciplined capital allocation and sustained value realisation for shareholders. This is a key tenet of our Singtel28 growth plan, where we’ve identified active capital management and the financial flexibility it brings, as integral to funding growth initiatives while supporting capital returns.”