Singtel offloads 0.8 pc stake in Bharti Airtel for Rs 10,353 cr

New Delhi, Nov 7 (PTI) Singtel on Friday said it has sold about 0.8 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel for Rs 10,353 crore (SGD 1.5 billion) as it continues to proactively optimise its portfolio through asset recycling.

Following the stake sale, Singtel will hold a 27.5 per cent stake in Airtel, valued at an estimated SGD 51 billion (around Rs 3.46 lakh crore).

The transaction was executed via a private placement to institutional investors, reflecting strong demand and market confidence in Airtel. The resultant gain from the sale is estimated to be SGD 1.1 billion, Singtel - Southeast Asia's largest telecoms provider, said in a regulatory filing on Singapore Exchange (SGX).

"Singtel has sold approximately 0.8 per cent of its direct stake in regional associate Airtel today, unlocking SGD 1.5 billion as it continues to proactively optimise its portfolio through asset recycling," it added.

Singtel's Group Chief Financial Officer, Arthur Lang, said, "Singtel has been working closely with Bharti Enterprises to gradually equalise our effective stake in Airtel over time. These transactions allow us to unlock value when appropriate, yet continue to retain a significant stake in Airtel and remain invested in India's burgeoning digital economy".

He added that with this transaction, our active capital management programme has generated SGD 5.6 billion, more than half of our new mid-term asset recycling target of SGD 9 billion.

"This gives us the financial flexibility to strengthen our balance sheet, fund growth opportunities in digital infrastructure and digital services while ensuring that we can continue to grow dividends on a sustainable basis," Lang said.

In May 2025, the group achieved more than half of its SGD 6 billion mid-term asset recycling target announced a year ago and raised this target to SGD 9 billion. The proceeds will be used to fund growth as well as for capital returns through its value realisation dividend and value realisation share buyback, Singtel said.

In a separate filing on SGX, Singtel said that its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Pastel Ltd (Pastel), sold 51 million shares of BAL at a price of 2,030 Indian rupees per sale share on Friday, raising aggregate gross proceeds of approximately SGD 1.5 billion.

The sale of shares represents approximately 0.8 per cent of the total number of equity shares of Bharti Airtel Ltd (BAL). It was conducted on the screen-based trading platform of the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Other details of the transaction would be available once the stock exchange uploads the related data.

On Monday, Bharti Airtel reported over twofold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 8,651 crore for the September quarter FY26, mainly on account of growth in high-paying smartphone customers and post-paid connections.

The company posted a profit of Rs 4,153.4 crore in the same period a year ago. Bharti Airtel Africa too had posted multifold growth in net income at Rs 969 crore during the quarter.

Revenue from operations of Bharti Airtel increased by about 26 per cent to Rs 52,145 crore during the quarter from Rs 41,473.3 crore in the same period last year.

The India revenue increased by 22.6 per cent YoY to Rs 38,690 crore after including its share from Indus Towers. The company had reported total India revenue at Rs 31,561 crore excluding revenue from Indus Towers.

Shares of Bharti Airtel were trading 4.52 per cent lower at Rs 1,509.40 apiece on the NSE, while the scrip of the company declined 4 per cent to Rs 2,011 per piece on the BSE. PTI HG MR