Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) said that it has purchased 1,588,000 shares of Bharti Airtel Limited via open market for Rs 42.3 crore (approximately S$12.45 million). The shares were purchased by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Viridian Limited. As a result, SingTel’s stake in Airtel has increased from 32% to 32.04%.
The shares of Bharti Airtel closed at Rs 308.10, up by 9.7%. The shares reached a high of Rs 310 on the Bombay Stock Exchange today.
This development comes after SingTel said last year that its plans to increase its stake in Bharti Airtel to 31.95% from 30.43%. Southeast Asia's largest telecom firm agreed to purchase an additional 730,000 shares in Bharti Telecom, which is the promoter group of Bharti Airtel.
Bharti Airtel completed its $9 billion acquisition of African operations from Kuwait's Zain last month.
