India’s leading telecom operator, Bharti Airtel, now directly owns 47.95% of Indus Towers. Note that Airtel already owns 47.95% of Indus Towers, which is indirect. Airtel’s Nettle Infrastructure owns 23.01% of Indus Towers, while Airtel directly owns 24.95%. But after Nettle Infra merged into Bharti Airtel, the telco also acquired Nettle Infra’s 23.01% stake in Indus Towers. This means Airtel now directly owns 47.95% of Indus Towers.

For Airtel stock to perform well in the market, Indus Towers must perform well. Indus Towers’ largest customer, Vodafone Idea (Vi), has not settled dues and should be able to settle the arrears once funds are raised. Vodafone Group UK also has a stake in Indus Towers, reportedly considering a sale to help Vi.

Bharti Airtel will waive its right of first refusal in case Vodafone Group UK wants to sell the remaining stake in Indus Towers to use the proceeds to rescue Vi. This happened once when Vodafone UK sold a minority stake in Indus to use the proceeds to liquidate Vi’s dues. Indus Towers has warned Vi that if it does not settle its dues, it risks losing the use of all its towers across India.