<p>Bharti Airtel Ltd, India’s top mobile phone carrier, on Thursday raised about Rs 2140 crore ($349.6 million) from a share sale in its unit Bharti Infratel Ltd to comply with a rule that requires listed companies to have a minimum 25 per cent public shareholding.</p>.<p><br />Bharti Airtel, which as of end-June owned 79.4 per cent of Bharti Infratel, was selling up to 85 million shares, or an about 4.5 per cent stake, through the stock exchange. <br /><br />The sale was covered 1.27 times at an indicative price of Rs 251.71 per share, states a Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)data released on Thursday.</p>.<p><br />Indian companies are riding on a surge in the stock market after a new government took power to raise funds by selling shares. </p>.<p><br />Initial public offering<br /><br />Bharti Infratel, which went public in December 2012, had three years from the initial public offering date to pare its founders’ holding to 75 per cent.<br /><br />The fund-raising also helps Bharti Airtel, headed by billionaire Sunil Mittal, as it strives to cut its debt. The company, which had a net debt of $9.6 billion as of June, last month agreed to sell about a fifth of its telecoms towers in Africa. Last year it sold a 5 per cent stake in the South African company for about $1.1 billion to a Qatari fund.<br /><br />Apart from these shares, Bharti Airtel decided to sell 4 crore additional equity shares of the company.<br />Global Banks and consultancies like Bank of America Merrill Lynch, UBS and JPMorgan were brokers to the Bharti Infratel share sale.<br /></p>
<p>Bharti Airtel Ltd, India’s top mobile phone carrier, on Thursday raised about Rs 2140 crore ($349.6 million) from a share sale in its unit Bharti Infratel Ltd to comply with a rule that requires listed companies to have a minimum 25 per cent public shareholding.</p>.<p><br />Bharti Airtel, which as of end-June owned 79.4 per cent of Bharti Infratel, was selling up to 85 million shares, or an about 4.5 per cent stake, through the stock exchange. <br /><br />The sale was covered 1.27 times at an indicative price of Rs 251.71 per share, states a Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)data released on Thursday.</p>.<p><br />Indian companies are riding on a surge in the stock market after a new government took power to raise funds by selling shares. </p>.<p><br />Initial public offering<br /><br />Bharti Infratel, which went public in December 2012, had three years from the initial public offering date to pare its founders’ holding to 75 per cent.<br /><br />The fund-raising also helps Bharti Airtel, headed by billionaire Sunil Mittal, as it strives to cut its debt. The company, which had a net debt of $9.6 billion as of June, last month agreed to sell about a fifth of its telecoms towers in Africa. Last year it sold a 5 per cent stake in the South African company for about $1.1 billion to a Qatari fund.<br /><br />Apart from these shares, Bharti Airtel decided to sell 4 crore additional equity shares of the company.<br />Global Banks and consultancies like Bank of America Merrill Lynch, UBS and JPMorgan were brokers to the Bharti Infratel share sale.<br /></p>