GIC to invest $713m in India's Bharti Airtel

According to a regulatory filing, GIC’s investment is part of a larger INR320 billion capital infusion plan in which Bharti’s promoters – Bharti Group, Bharti Telecom, and Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) – will participate.

The company will raise up to INR250 billion through the issuance of new shares at INR220 each, with GIC and the promoter group subscribing to shares worth INR168 billion and the remaining shares to be issued on the public market. Bharti will also issue a foreign currency bond worth INR70 billion.

The number of new shares has not been disclosed, but based on the share price, it appears around 1.14 billion shares will be issued by the company. GIC’s investment will bring it around 227 million shares, representing a 4.4% stake.

Bharti has operations in 16 countries across Asia and Africa, and is one of the top three mobile services providers globally by number of subscribers. It claims to cover 24% of the world’s population and 95% of India’s population, offering 2G, 3G, and 4G wireless phone service, along with mobile commerce. As of December 2018 the company had more than 403 million customers globally.

According to Bharti’s most recent annual report, revenue for the year ended March 2018 came to INR837 billion, down from INR955 billion the year before. Over the same period, net profit fell from INR38 billion to INR11 billion. The new capital will be used to pay down the company’s debt and accelerate its investment in new network capacity.

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