Singtel Bharti Telecom

Transaction to cost around Rs 12,900 crore; family currently owns 24.13% stake in Airtel

The company almost halved its final dividend to 5.45 Singapore cents a share, down from 10.7 cents announced last year

Singapore-based Singtel will invest Rs 26.49 billion in Bharti Telecom, lifting its stake to 48.90 per cent in the parent company of country's top mobile operator Bharti Airtel. The investment, which will be made through preferential allotment of shares expected to be completed by March this year. As a result of its investment in Bharti Telecom, Singtel's stake in Bharti Airtel will increase by 0.9 percentage points to 39.5 per cent.Singtel currently holds 47.17 per cent stake in Bharti Telecom whereas Bharti Enterprises, run by Sunil Bharti Mittal, hold over 50 per cent stake in the company. The funds raised will be used towards debt reduction."This is a good opportunity for us to deepen our strategic partnership with Airtel. While there are currently headwinds in India, we take a long-term view of our investment in Airtel which continues to be a strong market leader in a region with rapidly increasing smartphone penetration and mobile data adoption," Arthur Lang, CEO International ..