BackBharti Infratel set to launch IPO in December
The people familiar with the matter say the shares are expected to be priced at less than `250 apiece
Premium(Pradeep Gaur/Mint)
New Delhi: Bharti Infratel Ltd’s much awaited $1 billion initial public offering (IPO) will hit the market by the second week of December, company executives said on Friday. The Economic Times reported the share sale earlier Friday, citing three people involved in the process.
The people, who didn’t want to be named, said the shares are expected to be priced at less than ₹ 250 apiece—similar to what some investors paid $1.25 billion to buy a 13.9% stake in the company in December 2007.
Post IPO, Bharti Airtel Ltd’s stake is expected to fall to around 80% from around 86% now, the people said.
Bharti Infratel filed its draft red herring prospectus for the share sale with the Securities and Exchange Board of India on 15 September.
In October, Akhil Gupta, joint managing director of Bharti Enterprises said he expected the IPO to be out by December, a fact he reiterated at the press conference announcing Airtel’s second quarter results.
“The final DRHP clearance should be out any day now," a senior telecoms observer at a multinational investment bank said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because his organization does not authorize him to speak to the media.
According to The Economic Times, if IPO is successful, it would be the first large public issue after Coal India Ltd raised ₹ 15,200 crore in October 2010. Since then, India’s IPO market has been muted, with 51 companies pulling out proposed initial offers after January 2011. Of these, over 20 have been in 2012.
The issue is expected to comprise 188.9 million shares, including 146.23 million fresh shares and a secondary sale of 42.67 million shares by four private equity firms, namely Temasek Holdings, Goldman Sachs, Anadale and Nomura. The fresh issue amounts to a 10% dilution in the number of shares.
Bharti Infratel owns 33,660 mobile phone towers besides a 42% stake in Indus Towers, the world’s largest tower firm, which is a three-way joint venture with Vodafone Group Plc’s India unit and Idea Cellular Ltd.
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