Before that, Pastel sold a 1.59% stake in Bharti Airtel for Rs 7,261 crore in November 2022. This stake sale had come months after Singtel had offloaded 3.3% stake in Bharti Airtel to BTL for Rs 12,895 crore, equivalent to $1.6 billion, in August 2022.
The stake sale by Singtel in one of India’s biggest companies (in terms of market capitalization) is in line with its broader capital recycling strategy to reallocate capital toward its core and digital businesses.
Singtel has a direct 9.5% ownership through its affiliate, Pastel. It also has an indirect interest in Airtel, totalling 29%, through its 49.44% stake in Bharti Telecom Ltd (BTL), the primary promoter entity of Airtel. BTL itself owns a 40.47% stake in Airtel.
Bharti Airtel recently reported a 77% year-on-year surge in its adjusted profit after tax (PAT) to Rs 5,223 crore during the March quarter (Q4FY25). The telco’s revenue grew by 27% during the quarter to Rs 47,876 crore.