Airtel completes acquisition of 4.7% stake in Indus Towers

The shares were acquired at Rs 187.88 apiece, taking the total deal size to Rs 2,388 crore

Bharti Airtel along with its whollyowned subsidiary has acquired about 4.7 per cent stake in Indus Towers from Euro Pacific Securities, an affiliate of Vodafone Group, a stock exchange filing said on Tuesday.

The shares were acquired at Rs 187.88 a piece, it said.

"...We wish to submit that the company, along with its wholly-owned subsidiary, Nettle Infrastructure Investments Limited, has acquired 127,105,179 equity shares (about 4.7 per cent) of Indus Towers at Rs 187.88 per share from Euro Pacific Securities Ltd., an affiliate of Vodafone Group Plc," Airtel said in a BSE filing.

Last week, Bharti Airtel had said it will acquire 4.7 per cent stake in Indus Towers from Vodafone Group for about Rs 2,388 crore.

Indus Towers, formerly Bharti Infratel, provides passive telecom infrastructure. It owns, deploys and manages telecom towers and communication structures for various mobile phone service operators.

The company's portfolio of over 1,84,748 telecom towers makes it one of the largest tower infrastructure providers in the country having presence in all 22 telecom circles.

Indus Towers caters to all wireless telecommunication service providers in India.

On February 25, Bharti Airtel had informed that it has inked an agreement to buy Vodafone's 4.7 per cent stake in Indus Towers on the condition that the proceeds will be used for investment in Vodafone Idea and clearing its dues towards the mobile tower company.

"Bharti Airtel has accordingly entered into an agreement with Vodafone to buy 4.7 per cent equity interest in Indus Towers on the principal condition that the amount paid shall be inducted by Vodafone as fresh equity in Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) and simultaneously remitted to Indus Towers to clear VIL's outstanding dues," Bharti Airtel had said in a statement on February 25.