ITC's Largest Investor BAT Looking To Monetise Stake

British American Tobacco, the largest public shareholder of ITC Ltd., may look to monetise its stake in the Indian cigarettes-to-hotels company.

"We continue to pursue all opportunities to enhance balance sheet flexibility and, as part of this, we regularly review our stake in ITC," Tadeu Marroco, chief executive at BAT, said in a statement. "We recognise that we have a significant shareholding which offers us the opportunity to release and reallocate some capital."

The British tobacco major expects to generate $43-billion of free cash flow before dividends over the next five years. BAT's 29% in ITC is valued at Rs 1.51 lakh crore ($18.2 billion) at the current market price.

The company has held stake in the Indian conglomerate since the early 1900s and is subject to numerous share capital changes and regulatory restrictions, said Marocco.

"We have been actively working for some time on completing the regulatory process required to give us the flexibility to monetise some of our shareholding and will update you at the earliest opportunity," he said.