The Wall Street Journal
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. Thursday said it has signed a deal to raise its equity stake in the founder of Bharti Airtel Ltd., effectively increasing its stake in the Indian mobile phone operator.
SingTel will pay 18.6 billion rupees ($302 million) in cash to buy an additional 3.62% equity stake in Bharti Telecom Ltd., which owns about 43.6% of Bharti Airtel. Post the transaction, SingTel’s direct and indirect holding in Bharti Airtel will rise to 32.34% from 30.76% at present, the company said in a statement to Singapore Exchange.
SingTel said it would buy 788.5 million Bharti Telecom shares from MacRitchie Investments Pte, a unit of Singapore’s state investment firm Temasek Holdings. Temasek in turn owns 51.88% equity stake in SingTel.
The transaction is expected to be completed on Aug. 28, according to the statement.