Airtel block deal: Stake sale proceeds to be used for refinancing loans for BT Group investment

Bharti Airtel shares have risen 45 percent in the last year.

Following a block deal in Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest telecom company, CNBC TV-18 reported that the company plans to use the proceeds from the stake sale to refinance loans taken to fund its investment in British Telecom (BT).

A block deal involving 5.1 crore shares of telecom player Bharti Airtel, worth Rs 8,475 crore, took place on the exchanges on February 18, with promoter entity Indian Continent Investment being the seller. As much as 0.9 percent stake in the company was sold through the block deals.

Bharti Airtel further confirmed that its promoter entity has sold a 0.84 percent stake in the company, with 1.20 crore of those shares acquired by Bharti Telecom, another promoter of the telecom operator.

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With this, the overall stake was allocated only to key marquee names, both global and domestic, the company said in a statement.

As per a Nuvama Alternate Research report, several institutional investors participated in Bharti Airtel’s recent block deal, with Bharti Telecom Limited leading the stake purchase at 12.05 million shares worth Rs 2,000 crore. Goldman Sachs Trust II acquired 10.68 million shares for Rs 1,773 crore, followed by GQG Partners with 9.1 million shares valued at Rs 1,510 crore.

Other major buyers included SBI Life Insurance (3.01 million shares for Rs 500 crore), NPS Trust (2.71 million shares for Rs 450 crore), and Vanguard (1.7 million shares for Rs 282 crore). Reliance Trust Insti, Fidelity, India Acorn Fund, Nordea, Redwheel, AustralianSuper, and ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund also participated, picking up shares worth Rs 120-259 crore each.

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The company reported a 505 percent jump in net profit at Rs 14,781 crore for the quarter that ended December 31, 2024, thus beating estimates, on account of a one-time gain incurred by the consolidation of a majority stake in Indus Towers. It reported a net profit of Rs 2,442 crore in the year-ago period. The company recorded a one-time gain of Rs 7,546 crore during the reporting quarter. The firm's revenue rose 19 percent to Rs 45,129 crore in Q3FY25 as against Rs 37,900 in Q3FY24.

Airtel added 0.6 million postpaid customers in Q3’25, taking its customer base to 25.3 million. Its market share in the smartphone segment saw continued improvement with an addition of 25.2 million, an increase of 10.3 percent YoY.

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At about 10:30 am, shares of the company were trading at Rs 1,656, lower by almost 1 percent. Bharti Airtel shares have risen 45 percent in the last year.

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