Bharti Infratel gains 7% post merger with Indus Towers

On Friday, shares of Bharti Infratel moved up by 7 percent to Rs 200 on the BSE after the company completed a merger with Indus Towers to create a mega tower company.

Bharti Airtel will hold a 36.73 percent stake while Vodafone group and providence will hold 28.12 percent and 3.25 percent, respectively. Vodafone Idea will receive Rs 3,760.1 crore for its 11.15 percent holding in Indus.

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Bharti Infratel in the filing said, “The broad has allotted 757.8 million equity shares of Rs 10 each to the Vodafone group and 87.51 million equity shares of Rs 10 each to PS Asia Holding Investment (Mauritius) Limited (Providence) aggregating to 28.12 percent and 3.25 percent, respectively in the post-issue share capital of the company.”

Analysts at ICICI Securities noted that Vodafone Idea has agreed to make a pre-payment of Rs 2,400 crore to the merged tower entity from the cash consideration to be received from Infratel at the time of closing. They added, “Apart from double taxation benefits on dividend pass through, there would not be a major benefit for Bharti Infratel as a combined entity. The promoters Airtel and Vodafone (UK) Group, however, in our view, would look to pare their stake to PE players later.”

As of 10.25 am, Bharti Infrate traded 6 percent higher at Rs 197 on the BSE. Comparatively, there was a 0.33 percent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. A combination of 9.8 million equity shares had changed hands on the counter on the NSE and BSE.