In one of the largest fundraising exercise by any Indian company, Bharti Airtel has decided a plan to raise as much as Rs 32,000 crore ($4.5 billion) through equity and bond sales. The board of the second largest telecom operator in India approved the fundraising in order to pare debts and meet capital expenditure to arm itself for the ongoing price war against Reliance Jio Infocomm.
Bharti Airtel through its exchange filing informed that the company’s “ board has considered the recommendations of the special committee of directors, and thereby approved the fundraising of up to Rs 32,000 crore through a rights issuance of up to Rs 25,000 crore and perpetual bond with equity credit up to Rs 7,000 crore.”
According to the company’s statement, the rights issue is priced at Rs 220 per share, posted at a discount of over 30% from the closing price of Rs 317.95 on BSE on Monday. The company also informed that they will issue 1.14 billion shares, increasing its equity base by over 22% to 5.13 billion equity shares.
Bharti Airtel, who has a net consolidated debt of Rs 1.15 lakh crore, announced that approval of “perpetual bonds of up to $1 billion (Rs 7,000 crore) denominated in foreign currency, subject to price, market conditions, and other terms and conditions.”
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