Shares of Bharti Airtel experienced a 3% decline during Wednesday’s trading session following a significant transaction involving the company’s shares, indicating a probable divestment by a promoter group entity. The brisk trading activity, amounting to approximately Rs 7,600 crore, exerted downward pressure on the stock early in the day.
An estimated 3.5 crore Airtel shares were anticipated to be offloaded at a price of Rs 2,096.70 per share, reflecting a 3% discount compared to the previous day’s closing price of Rs 2,161.60 on the NSE. Subsequent reports suggested that about 3.5 crore shares, representing nearly 0.6% of Airtel’s equity, were traded at Rs 2,108 each in a block deal.
Midway through the trading session, Bharti Airtel’s shares were down by 2.20% on the NSE, trading at Rs 2,114 after dipping to a low of Rs 2,097.50 earlier in the day. The seller was identified as Indian Continent Investment (ICIL), a promoter group entity holding a 1.48% stake in the company as of September 30 through 6,61,11,188 fully paid-up shares and 2,41,56,604 partly paid-up shares.
This recent divestment is not the first involving Airtel this month. In an earlier major block deal in November, 5.1 crore shares changed hands, with Singtel as the seller, generating over $1 billion or approximately Rs 10,800 crore by selling up to 0.8% of its stake in the telecom firm.
ICIL has also been actively selling shares this year. In August, it sold 6 crore Bharti Airtel shares at prices ranging from Rs 1,870.40 to Rs 1,871.95 on the NSE. Additionally, Singtel’s investment arm, Pastel Ltd, divested 5.1 crore Airtel shares at Rs 2,030.37 each earlier this month.
Goldman Sachs (India) Securities Private Limited facilitated the share sale on Wednesday as the sole placement agent. The transaction was executed through bulk trades on the electronic trading platform of Indian stock exchanges.
Aside from the share transaction, Bharti Airtel’s recent financial results have garnered attention. The company posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 6,791 crore in the September quarter, marking a 14.2% increase from the previous quarter’s Rs 5,948 crore and surpassing analyst expectations of Rs 6,600 crore.
Revenue saw a sequential growth of 5.4%, reaching Rs 52,145 crore, exceeding the estimated figure of Rs 51,006 crore. Airtel’s EBITDA also rose by 6.2% from the previous quarter to Rs 29,561 crore, with its EBITDA margin slightly increasing to 56.7% from 56.3%.