Indus Towers Becomes Bharti Airtel Subsidiary After Buyback
Following completion of buyback, the shareholding of promoter Bharti Airtel in Indus Tower will increase to 50.005%.
Indus Tower Ltd., India's largest mobile tower installation company, is now a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Ltd. following the recent buyback of shares. The board's buyback committee on Tuesday approved the basis of acceptance of 5.67 crore shares of face value of Rs 10 each, from the eligible shareholders who tendered their shares, according to an exchange filing.
Following completion of buyback, the shareholding of promoter Bharti Airtel in Indus Tower will increase to 50.005%. Consequently, the company will become a subsidiary of the telecom giant.
As of June, the Sunil Bharti Mittal-led telecom company had 48.95% equity in the company.
A subsidiary is a business whose parent company holds a majority stake, which is more than 50% of all shares.
Indus Tower had announced the buyback in July.
Indus Towers has over 2.25 lakh towers and 3.7 lakh co-locations and a nationwide presence covering all 22 telecom circles. Its leading customers are Bharti Airtel (together with Bharti Hexacom), Vodafone Idea Ltd. and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.
The company's consolidated net profit rose 3.9% year-on-year to Rs 1,926 crore in the quarter ended June 2024. That compares with Rs 1,572 crore estimated by analysts polled by Bloomberg. Indus Towers' top line rose 2.6% on the year to Rs 7,383 crore from Rs 7,193 crore.
The company's operating profit, or Ebitda, rose in contrast to a marginal decline forecasted by Bloomberg's survey. The Ebitda rose 10.8% on the year to Rs 4,545 crore, from Rs 4,102 crore for the first quarter.
