Sunil Mittal’s family owned firm sells Airtel shares worth ₹8,485 crore

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel (Airtel) on Tuesday said that Sunil Bharti Mittal family’s holding company, Indian Continent Investment (ICIL), has sold Airtel shares worth about ₹8,485.11 crore through a market transaction.

Bharti Airtel’s promoter firm, Bharti Telecom — a joint venture between Mittal family’s investment arm and Singapore telecom major Singtel — has acquired around 1.2 crore shares, or around 24 per cent, of the total sale by ICIL in the block deal, the company said in a regulatory filing.

This transaction follows Bharti Telecom’s recent acquisition of an additional around 1.2 per cent stake (around 7.31 crore shares) in Airtel from ICIL in November 2024, it said.

“With this, Bharti Telecom now holds around 40.47 per cent of Airtel, reinforcing its previously stated intent of strengthening its position as the principal vehicle to hold controlling stake in Airtel, remaining focused on gradually increasing its stake while maintaining a prudent leverage profile as it does so,” Airtel said.

The shares were picked up by a clutch of domestic mutual funds (MFs), foreign investors and an insurance company. WhiteOak Capital Mutual Fund (MF), ICICI Prudential MF, Goldman Sachs, GQG Partners, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Fidelity Investments, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Nordea Funds, JP Morgan, and National Pension System Trust were the buyers of Bharti Airtel’s shares.

Melbourne-based AustralianSuper, Vanguard, Reliance Trust Company and SBI Life Insurance Company, among others were also entities who have picked up shares of Airtel, the company informed.

Shares of Airtel closed at ₹1,218.85 apiece on the BSE on Tuesday, down 0.18 per cent from the previous close.