Bharti Airtel Trades Flat After Buying Back Stake From Warburg Pincus

Bharti Airtel shares edged lower after the telecom major announced plans to buy US private equity firm Warburg Pincus' 20 per cent stake in its direct-to-home (DTH) television arm for Rs 3,126 crore. At 9:45 am, the shares of Bharti Airtel were trading at Rs 593.65, down 40 paise, on the BSE.

Bharti Airtel will issue around 3.647 crore shares at a price of Rs 600 per share, with Rs 1,037.8 crore paid in cash. It will value the DTH arm at around Rs 15,630 crore, Bharti Airtel said in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges.

"DTH is an integral part of our Homes strategy and this transaction is another step towards simplifying the shareholding of our customer facing businesses," Harjeet Kohli, group director of Bharti Enterprises, the parent company of Bharti Airtel said.