Singtel announced it raised SGD950 million (US$711 million) by selling a 0.8% stake in Bharti Airtel to US-based investment firm GQG Partners.
In a statement, Singtel detailed that the gain from the sale is estimated to be around SGD700 million. Its stake in Airtel will be reduced to 29% and is worth an estimated SGD33 billion.
The transaction is a part of Singtel’s 2021 strategy to recycle capital to unlock value from its assets. To date the operator has recycled around SGD8 billion in the last three years to enable the company to fund growth of its data centre, IT services and reduce net debt by SGD3.2 billion (since end September 2023).
Singtel Group CFO Arthur Lang added: “The Group is now in an even stronger position to execute our disciplined capital approach of balancing investing for greater growth and delivering strong, sustainable returns for our shareholders.
The executive noted Airtel had seen “steady growth” across its units and had been “rewarded with strong market valuations”.
“We believe there’s more room for growth given India’s accelerated digital transformation and we intend to stay invested for the long term while working with Bharti Enterprises to equalise our effective stake in Airtel over time,” he added.
Singtel sold a 3.3% stake in Airtel to Bharti Telecom in 2022 for around SGD2.54 billion.
