According to persons familiar with the situation, Singapore Telecommunications Limited, or Singtel, has begun talks with Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal to sell a tiny portion of its stake in the Indian telco to the Mittal family.
Bharti Telecom, a promoter business of Bharti Airtel, is owned by Singtel and the Mittal family. Furthermore, both possess direct shares in Bharti Airtel. While the exact amount and terms of the deal have yet to be finalized, sources close to the situation say the Singapore company could sell a stake worth $1-2 billion to the Indian promoter through a combination of Bharti Telecom and Bharti Airtel share sales.
Bharti Airtel has a market capitalization of Rs. 3.78 lakh crore as of Wednesday. Selling $1 billion worth of Bharti Airtel shares would cut Singtel’s ownership to less than 30% while selling $2 billion worth of shares would lower Singtel’s position to less than 4%.
