Bharti Infratel Shares Jump 7% Post Restructuring
Bharti Airtel transferred 11.3% stake to wholly-owned subsidiary Nettle Infrastructure.
Shares of Bharti Infratel Ltd. rose as much as 7 percent, after its promoter Bharti Airtel Ltd. completed the transfer of part of its stake to a wholly-owned subsidiary.
Bharti Airtel transferred 20.9 crore equity shares (11.3 percent) of its infrastructure arm to Nettle Infrastructure Investment Ltd. The shares were transferred at an approximate value of Rs 325 per share.
Ahead of the transfer to Nettle Infrastructure, the promoter Bharti Airtel sold its 10.3 percent stake to a consortium led by Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for Rs 6,194 crore to pare debt.
Post the restructuring and stake sale, Bharti Airtel will own 50.33 percent, while its wholly-owned subsidiary Nettle Infrastructure will hold 11.3 percent stake in Bharti Infratel.
Bharti Infratel, one of the largest tower infrastructure companies in India, owns close to 39,000 standalone towers and another 51,000 belonging to Indus Towers Ltd. The stock has 58 percent ‘buy’ rating, with an average 12-month target price of Rs 355, according to the data compiled by Bloomberg.
This is the second time this month, where share prices of Bharti Infratel have gained 7 percent intra-day. Earlier on March 3, the share prices had gained after foreign brokerage house CLSA upgraded the stock to a ‘buy’ rating with a target price of Rs 356.
Bharti Airtel on March 15 scrapped its earlier plan to divest a significant stake in Bharti Infratel, and decided to transfer 21.6 percent shares to Nettle Infrastructure.
Bharti Infratel’s shares were trading 3.5 percent higher at Rs 329.80 apiece at 11.17 a.m.