Qatar Foundation, a nonprofit run by the gas-rich country’s royal family, today sold its entire 5 percent stake in India’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel Ltd. for Rs 9,600 crore.
As many as 199.9 million shares of the telecom major changed hands at Rs 481, a 6.4 percent discount to its last close, according to terms of the deal obtained by Bloomberg on Tuesday. The shares were offered via Three Pillars Pte., an affiliate of Qatar Foundation Endowment which was earlier offering shares at Rs 473-480 apiece.
Merrill Lynch Markets Singapore Pte. bought 2.29 crore shares, amounting to 0.6 percent stake, at Rs 482.97 each while UBS Principal Capital Asia bought 2.47 crore shares at Rs 480 each.
Proceeds of the share sale would be reinvested as part of group’s ongoing global portfolio growth and diversification, Bloomberg reported.
Shares of Airtel fell as much as 6.7 percent intraday but pared some of its losses to end 3.3 percent lower at Rs 495.15 on the BSE.
