Qatar Foundation sells 5% stake in Airtel

Qatar Foundation Endowment (QFE) on Wednesday announced the offloading of its entire 5 percent stake in Bharti Airtel for around Rs 9600 crore.

The block trade was priced at Rs 481 per share, a discount of 6.4 percent to the previous closing price as of 7th November 2017.

TPPL's representative on Bharti Airtel's Board of Directors will step down immediately post settlement of the sale.

"We are delighted to have partnered with Bharti Airtel through an important stage of their growth. Bharti Airtel has successfully maintained its market-leading position, and its positive momentum has led to our investment performing well," Rashid Al-Naimi, Chief Executive Officer of QFE, said in a statement.

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The QFE Group will reinvest the proceeds globally, as we continue to grow and diversify our portfolio. We remain firm supporters of the Bharti Airtel business, the management team, and their strategy, and wish them well in the future," Rashid Al-Naimi added.

In May 2013, TPPL invested INR 68 billion in Bharti Airtel, to strengthen the capital structure and allow further investment for growth. The investment saw TPPL acquire 199,870,006 shares at a price of Rs 340 per share. Given the sale price of INR 481 per share, the sale of this stake realizes a significant gain for TPPL.

QFE said that UBS acted as Sole Bookrunner on this transaction.

To recall, Bharti Telecom, the promoter of Bharti Airtel has increased their stake in the market leader by 4.62 percent, crossing the 50 percent mark.

"The company has received a communication dated 3 November 2017 from Bharti Telecom, the promoter of the company that it has acquired 184,710,183 equity shares of the company from Indian Continent Investment," Bharti Airtel said in a BSE filing.

The shares represent 4.62 percent of the paid-up share capital of the company, it added.