Airtel's board has set up a Committee of Directors (COD) to evaluate the possibility of selling a part of its stake in tower asset firm Bharti Infratel, the company informed BSE. The company added that following this, 13.96% stake in Bharti Infratel was sold to a group of private equity investors, and via qualified institutional placements (QIPs) "by way of market transactions". However, it didn't provided details regarding the number of equity shares sold and the value of the deal. Currently, Airtel holds a controlling 58% stake in Bharti Infratel, both directly and through its wholly-owned subsidiary Nettle Infrastructure. The company mentioned that it has been approached by certain global investors, who're interested in acquiring "a significant stake in Bharti Infratel." If this is approved by Airtel's board it'll result in Airtel surrendering its controlling stake in Bharti Infratel. Note that no agreement has been finalised as yet. Bharti Infratel is also looking to acquire stake in Indus Tower Limited, "with the aim of making it a subsidiary or wholly owned subsidiary." Indus Towers is a joint venture between Bharti Infratel, Vodafone India, and Idea Cellular, with Bharti Infratel and Vodafone India holding 42% stake each, while Idea Cellular holds a stake of 11.15%. The remaining 4.85% stake is held by US-based private equity firm Providence. Airtel's board goes back on earlier decision Earlier this year, in March, Airtel had decided against selling a controlling stake in Bharti Infratel. At the time, Airtel's board had instead approved the sale of up to 400 million…
