Bharti Televentures plans IPO

India's Bharti group is planning to raise more than $200 million in an initial public offering of shares in its services firm Bharti Televentures this fiscal year, the telecom group's chairman said on Friday.

"We need to raise another $200-$250 million as equity. We plan to do an IPO, definitely this fiscal," Sunil Mittal said, adding that the exchange where the shares will be listed would be decided by the issue's bankers.

"We are open between Bombay, New York or NASDAQ," he said.

Mittal, whose group has key partners in Singapore Telecom (SingTel), British Telecom and Warburg Pincus said the issue was aimed at raising funds to bridge a shortfall in Bharti Televentures' investment plans for the next few years.

However, Bharti Group would not relinquish majority control of the Televentures unit, the chairman said. He did not say what proportion of the company would be floated.

Bharti Televentures is the holding arm for the group's telecom services companies whose activities span cellular telephones, basic phone services and Internet access. It also has aggressive plans to roll out a long-distance telephone business.

"We need about Rs 40-50 billion in all in the next three years, of which Rs 20 billion ($437 million) is required as equity," he said.

Earlier this month, SingTel invested $400 million to pick up stakes totalling 35 per cent in two Bharti group firms including a 15 per cent stake in Bharti Televentures.

Mittal said nearly $200 million of this will be used to acquire stakes in existing Indian cellular firms, while the rest will be used to retire old debts.

Open to judicious acquisitions

Mittal said the Bharti group was keen to acquire control of mobile telephone firms around the country to give its cellular operations a pan-Indian presence, but it would use its funds judiciously.

Last year, the group acquired stakes in SkyCell, a cellular phone service firm in the south-Indian city of Madras, and also in JT Mobile, the firm running networks in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

But in recent months, it has been strongly rivalled by Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa group , whose Indian venture has aggressively acquired stakes in several firms.

These include a 43-per cent stake in Fascel, the leading mobile phone service provider in Gujarat, Usha Martin in Calcutta and Sterling Cellular in Delhi.

Mittal, who has spawned a sprawling telecom empire after steadily building up a conservative family-controlled business, said that Bharti was unlikely to be very aggressive in the acquisitions game as it was keen to get value for money.

"We still have a handicap vis-a-vis Hutchison. I still use my money very judiciously. They don't. In the Calcutta deal, in one night, they went $28 million higher than me," he said.

"We will not have a winner's curse. I can't fritter our money away. We have another opportunity of a fourth licence (in each zone) coming. We will bid for that. We will only acquire if, monetarily and financially, it makes sense."

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