Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (Singtel) has signed an agreement last week to acquire 7.39% stake in Bharti Telecom Limited—the holding company of Bharti Airtel in India, via Temasek Holdings, which holds majority stake in Singtel, the company said in a statement. The deal valued at $659.51 million according to Mint, will allow Singtel to further strengthen its holding capacity in India via Bharti Airtel, which is India’s largest telecom operator in terms of subscriber base. The acquisition will be settled fully in cash, according the statement and the transaction will be funded via “internal cash, short-term debt and proceeds from a share placement of 386 million new Singtel shares to Temasek totaling S$1.605 billion at a price of S$4.16 per new share.” Apart from the Airtel buyout, Singtel is also looking to buy 21% of Thailand based Intouch Holdings Public Company Limited, which owns a majority stake in Thailand’s Advanced Info Services. Currently, Temasek and Singtel jointly owns 39.78% of Bharti Telecom, and another 15.01% in Bharti Airtel via its subsidiaries including Pastel Ltd and Viridian Ltd, according to the Mint report. Once the deal subject to regulatory and shareholder approval goes through, Singtel will directly own 36.27% of Airtel India, making it the largest shareholder in Airtel. This is because the Mittal family, which owns a larger stake of 51% in Bharti Telecom, owns just under 30% in Airtel India, making Singtel the largest shareholder in Airtel’s India unit, added the report. Note that prior to signing of this…
