Warburg Pincus invests $350m in India's Bharti Telemedia

The private equity firm bought a 20% stake in Bharti Telemedia, comprising a 15% interest held by Bharti Airtel and a 5% holding from another Bharti entity. The deal leaves Bharti Airtel with an 80% stake in the company.

Bharti Telemedia is one of India’s largest DTH providers, operating under the Airtel TV brand. Since its launch in 2008, the brand has partnered with 1,500 distribution partners across India. As of September 2017, it had 14 million subscribers, and it reported $550 million in revenue for the previous 12 months.

Warburg Pincus’ history with Bharti Airtel goes back to 1999 when the GP made its first investment in the company, then called Bharti Televentures. It went on to commit $290 million between then and 2001. The GP's 2005 exit for $1.83 billion is credited with helping establish India as a destination for private equity.

“Airtel has enjoyed a very successful partnership with Warburg Pincus in the past and we are excited to partner with them once again in an attractive and fast-growing space,” said Gopal Vittal, a managing director and CEO at Bharti Airtel, in a statement. “Airtel TV is very well positioned in the DTH space, and we are committed to grow our share of the market through a combination of innovation, value engineering, customer service and distribution initiatives.”

This the second large-scale private equity transaction this year involving Bharti Airtel. In Mach, KKR and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) invested INR62 billion ($953 million) in Bharti Infratel, the company's cell tower arm.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Technology
• Media
• Expansion
• India
• Warburg Pincus Asia
• TMT
• Growth capital