Bharti Telecom buys Airtel's shares for Rs 172 cr, hikes stake

Bharti Airtel on Friday said one of its promoter group entity Bharti Telecom has bought 57.14 lakh (5.71 million) shares of the company for Rs 171.92 crore (Rs 1.71 billion) through various market transactions.

Bharti Telecom stake in the company has been now been raised to 43.72 per cent, the company said in a BSE filing.

Bharti Telecom bought 13.04 lakh shares for Rs 38.18 crore (Rs 381.8 million) at NSE and 54,000 shares for Rs 1.58 crore (Rs 15.8 billion) at BSE on March 25, thus raising the stake marginally from 43.57 per cent to 43.61 per cent, the filing said.

Additionally Bharti Telecom purchased 22.71 lakh (2.27 million) shares for Rs 67.53 crore (Rs 675.3 million) at NSE and 134,000 shares for Rs 3.99 crore (Rs 39.9 million) at BSE on March 26, which led its stake to increase to 43.67

per cent.

Besides on March 27, the promoter group entity bought 17.50 lakh (1.75 million) scrips for Rs 54.41 crore (Rs 544.1 million) at NSE and 200,000 shares for Rs 6.2 crore (Rs 62 million) at BSE, further raising the stake to 43.72 per cent, it added.

As on quarter ended December 2013, Bharti Telecom held 43.57 per cent stake in the company.

The promoter group had 65.23 per cent in the company at the same period.

Shares of Bharti Airtel on Friday closed at Rs 316.55 apiece, up 1.88 per cent in the afternoon trade on the BSE.