Singapore: Singapore Telecommunications has agreed to increase its effective stake in India’s mobile phone operator Bharti Airtel to 31.95% from 30.43% the company said.
SingTel has entered into a conditional agreement with Bharti Group to purchase an additional 730,000 shares in Bharti Telecom, which is the sponsor of the listed entity Bharti Airtel, the Singapore firm said in a statement late on Friday.
SingTel will make an estimated payment of between Rs18,073 million to Rs30,084 million ($641.3 million) for the purchase of additional shares of Bharti Telecom, the statement said.
The price difference is because the payment schedule is spread over more than a year after the agreement kicks in on 12 November.
Bharti Telecom has a stake of around 45.3% in Bharti Airtel.
On Friday Bharti Airtel gave a downbeat outlook due to a price war after posting its slowest pace of profit growth in at least six years, sending its shares down nearly 7%.