Bharti Enterprises, the parent company of India’s leading mobile operator Bharti Airtel Ltd., announced that one of its group companies had acquired a 4.99 percent stake in the telecom firm from Vodafone. In February, Vodafone had obtained a controlling stake in rival Hutchison Essar. At that time, Bharti stated it had an agreement to purchase Vodafone’s 5.6 percent direct interest in Bharti Airtel Ltd. for $1.6 billion, to be paid on a deferred basis.
A spokesperson for Bharti mentioned that the remaining portion of the direct holding would be acquired in the future. This acquisition increased Bharti’s voting interest in Bharti Airtel to over 50 percent. Vodafone continues to hold an indirect 4.4 percent stake in Bharti Airtel. Earlier this month, Bharti Enterprises offered a 5 percent stake in Bharti Airtel to Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings. Shares of Bharti Airtel, India’s third-most valuable company, rose 2.3 percent to 883.10 rupees in a Mumbai market that saw a marginal increase of 0.07 percent on Wednesday.
