Mittal family eyes a bigger stake in Bharti Airtel: Report

Eyeing a bigger stake in Bharti Airtel, the Mittal family is in talks with several investment banks, via promoter entities, to raise up to Rs 15,500 crore via onshore/offshore credit lines to buy a part of Singapore Telecommunication’s (Singtel) share in Airtel.

The family is considering all options for offshore credit such as structured financing, bonds, and even bridge loans. Banks that have been sounded out include Standard Chartered, JPMorgan, Citibank, BNP Paribas, and the Bank of America, sources told The Economic Times.

Deccan Herald could not independently verify this report.

Currently, The Mittals and Singtel own over 50.56 per cent and 49.44 per cent respectively in Bharti Telecom holding 35.85 per cent in Bharti Airtel. In addition, Singtel also owns 14 per cent directly in Bharti Airtel and Mittals owns 6.04 per cent, taking their total shareholdings to 31.72 and 24.13 per cent respectively.

ET had earlier reported that Singtel had started talks with Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal to sell a small piece of its holding in the Indian telco to the Mittal family.

The Singapore-based company has been a shareholder in Bharti Airtel since 2000.

The deal is yet to be finalised. However, the report noted that the company could sell a stake worth $1-2 billion to the Mittals through a mix of Bharti Telecom and Bharti Airtel share sales.

Last week, the company said that this deal "remained a core investment in its international portfolio".