Bharti Airtel slips 5% after promoters sell 2.75% stake via block deals

Shares of Bharti Airtel dropped 5.4 per cent to Rs 561 on the BSE on Tuesday after its promoter, Bharti Telecom, sold some stake in the telecom services provider through open market deals today.
At 09:15 am; around 155.71 million equity shares representing 2.85 per cent of total equity of Bharti Airtel changed hands on the BSE, the exchange data shows. The names of the buyers are not ascertained immediately.

According reports, Bharti Telecom, a promoter entity of Bharti Airtel, was to sell 2.75 per cent stake worth $1 billion in the telecom company via block deals on Tuesday morning. Up to 150 million shares will be available for prospective investors through a book-built offering. The shares are being offered to large, high networth investors at 6 per cent discount to the closing price of Rs 593 a share as on March 22. JP Morgan was to manage the sale with a floor price of Rs 558 per equity share, added the report.
As on March 31, 2020, Bharti Telecom held about 38.79 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel which will be reduced by 2.75 [per cent after the deal. The total promoter shareholding as per exchange data currently stands at 58.98 per cent. Other than Bharti Telecom, other promoters in Bharti Airtel include, Pastel Ltd (13.91 per cent stake), Indian Continent Investment Ltd (6.08 per cent stake) and Viridian Ltd (0.20 per cent stake), data shows.
In January 2020, the Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel had raised $2 billion through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) which saw participation by highly reputed global and Indian investors. The company issued 323.6 million equity shares at price of Rs 445 per share. After the QIP issue, the combined holding of the promoter and promoter group, including Singtel and the Bharti Group, in Airtel would reduce to 58.98 per cent from 62.70 per cent.
Analysts remain bullish
Most analysts maintain a positive outlook for the stock and suggest investors use the decline to buy from a long-term perspective.
"Bharti Telecom's 2.75% stake sale in Bharti Airtel for $1.1 billion is mainly to de-lever its balance sheet as the dividend payments from Bharti Airtel are insufficient to service its debt of Rs 85 billion. The stake sale will lower Singtel and promoters' effective stake in Bharti Airtel to 32% and 24% respectively. This is not a de-rating event and we see any potential pullbacks in the stock due to this as a buying opportunity. Maintain Buy with target of Rs 660/share," wrote analysts at Jefferies in a May 25 note.
The stock hit an all-time high of Rs 612 on Wednesday, June 20, 2020 on the BSE. In past six months, it had outperformed the market by surging 41 per cent, as compared to 24 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex till Friday.
At 09:29 am; the stock was trading 3.4 per cent lower at Rs 573 on the BSE, against 0.87 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. A combined 194 million equity shares changed hands on the counter on the NSE and BSE so far.

Bharti Airtel promoters, GIC to subscribe half of Rs 32K cr rights issue

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel Thursday received commitment from its single-largest shareholder Singtel, promoters and GIC Singapore to participate in its Rs 32,000 crore capital raising programme.
Singapore telecom major SingTel said it will infuse Rs 3,750 crore in Bharti Airtel by subscribing to the proposed Rs 25,000 crore rights issue of the company.

GIC Private Limited, on behalf of Government of Singapore and Monetary Authority of Singapore, has made a commitment of Rs 5,000 crore in the proposed programme.
"The entire rights entitlement of Promoter and Promoter Group of approximately Rs 167,857 million (Rs 16,785.7 crore) will be subscribed by them and GIC, with Promoter and Promoter Group subscribing to Rs 117,857 million (Rs 11,785.7 crore) and GIC subscribing Rs 50,000 million (or Rs 5,000 crore) by way of renouncement in their favour," Bharti Airtel said in a statement.
The board of Bharti Airtel last week approved rights issue to raise up to Rs 25,000 crore through issuance of fully paid up shares at a price of Rs 220 per share, and an additional Rs 7,000 crore via the foreign currency perpetual bond issue.
Bharti Airtel said the capital infusion will help it continue investments in future rollouts to build large network capacity and create content and technology partnerships to ensure the best customer experience.
SingTel announced that "it will subscribe to 170 million new shares in the Rs 250 billion rights issue by regional associate Bharti Airtel (Airtel) at an issue price of Rs 220 per share, for a total consideration of Rs 37.5 billion (approximately USD 525 million), representing the rights entitlement for its direct stake of 15 per cent." Together with Airtel's major shareholders and GIC, a total of 67 per cent of the rights issue has been committed, SingTel said.
With this rights issue subscription, Singtel's effective interest in Airtel will be 35.2 per cent and the company will continue to be the single largest shareholder in Airtel. At present SingTel holds around 39.5 per cent stake in the India telecom firm.
"The Promoter and Promoter Group also reserves the right to subscribe either itself or through investors for additional shares in the Issue, including in the event of under subscription by the public, in accordance with the applicable laws," the statement said.
Airtel is in the process of appointing banks to take this forward.
"The Rights Issue reiterates the confidence of our shareholders in the competitive strength and sound business strategy of Airtel. It shall further strengthen our balance sheet with desired financial flexibility so as to meet future opportunities, particularly in the rapidly transforming Indian mobile market," Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO (India & South Asia) - Bharti Airtel said.
He said the fresh capital infusion will help the company to continue investments in future rollouts to build large network capacity and create content and technology partnerships to ensure the best customer experience.

Rs 25,000-cr Infusion not enough to stabilise Bharti Airtel's rating: S&P

S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday said Bharti Airtel's proposed rights issue of up to Rs 25,000 crore is not enough to stabilise its credit rating.
The rating agency said that there is negative outlook, an indication of rating downgrade, which looks at renewed competition and higher capital spending by the company that will keep its debt level up.

"S&P Global Ratings believes the proposed rights issue (of Rs 25,000 crore), if successful, would go a long way in restoring Bharti's balance sheet and shoring up leverage. However, the negative outlook on the rating captures the risk of renewed competition and elevated capital spending by Bharti, which may keep the leverage elevated," the rating agency said.
The rating headroom remains limited despite the sizable equity infusion, it noted.
The board of Airtel last week approved fund-raising plans of up to Rs 32,000 crore through a combination of rights issue and bonds -- a move that will help the company take on market competition intensified by Reliance Jio, and cut debt.
The net debt of Bharti Airtel at the end of the third quarter of 2018-19 stood at Rs 1.06 lakh crore.
Airtel's fund-raising plans entail rights issuance of up to Rs 25,000 crore and Perpetual Bond with equity credit of up to Rs 7,000 crore (about USD 1 billion).
"The terms of Bharti's proposed USD 1 billion perpetual bonds remain unknown. We will assess the impact of those bonds on the company's capital structure and leverage at the time of their issuance," S&P Global Ratings' credit analyst Ashutosh Sharma said.
The analyst said that Bharti's higher capital expenditures over the past few years have weighed on its debt capacity.
However, the company may complete its 4G-rollout over the next two to three quarters, which could mean a sizable reduction in its capital spending.
"The Indian telecommunications market is showing signs of stabilizing, although it remains competitive. We think the negative growth that was spurred by price competition in the Indian telecommunications industry might be behind us, given that tariffs seem to have bottomed out," Sharma said.
Another credit rating agency Moody's Investor Service had come out with different perspective on the proposed rights issue.
Moody's said that the Airtel's proposed rights issue is "credit positive" as it will enable the company to pare debt and improve liquidity.
The Moody's statement said it still expects a significant portion of proceeds from the rights issue to be used to lower debt, strengthening Airtel's balance sheet and providing the company with greater financial and operational flexibility for its Indian operations.
"But Bharti's ratings are unlikely to change in the near-term as we expect leverage will remain elevated while profitability and cash flow of the company's core Indian mobile segment remain under pressure," it said.

Bharti Airtel posts 72% drop in consolidated net profit at Rs 86 cr in Q3

Bharti Airtel Ltd posted a nearly 72 per cent fall in quarterly profit on Thursday, as the telecoms bellwether suffered from continuing pricing pressure.
Net profit for the three months through December 31 was Rs 86.2 crore ($12.13 million) compared with a profit of Rs 306 crore in the year-earlier quarter.

The company reported a one-off gain of Rs 1,414 crore during the quarter.
That compared with analyst estimates of a loss of Rs 686 crore, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
Revenue rose about 1 percent to Rs 20,519 crore.

MARKETS LIVE: Indices range-bound, Nifty above 10,600; Airtel slips 3%

The benchmark indices have trimmed their opening losses and are now trading in a narrow range with some negative bias.
In stock-specific action, Bharti Airtel is trading 3 per cent lower after Moody's Investors Service placed it's rating on review for downgrade, following low levels of profitability and expectation of weak cash flow. "The review for downgrade is primarily driven by our expectation that Bharti's cash flow generation will remain weak and leverage elevated," Moody's VP and Senior Credit Officer Annalisa DiChiara said.

Nearly 75 companies including Titan Company, Indian Energy Exchange, Hindustan Aeronautics, Indian Bank and India Cements to announce their September quarter earnings later in the day.
Fed leaves rates unchanged
The US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Thursday but remained on track to keep gradually tightening borrowing costs, as it pointed to a healthy economy that was marred only by a dip in the growth of business investment.
Rupee
The rupee opened firm at 72.70 per dollar, up from its previous close of 73 against the greenback.
Global Markets
Asian stocks dipped on Friday as Wall Street took a breather after the Federal Reserve kept intact its plans to continue raising interest rates at a gradual pace, with the fourth hike for this year expected next month.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.06 per cent. The index was still headed for a sizable gain of more than 6 percent this week, during which it rose to a one-month high.
Australian stocks were flat, South Korea’s KOSPI edged up 0.2 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.2 per cent.
(with Reuters input)
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11:59 AM
Market Check
S&P BSE Bharat 22 Index 3,477.63 +10.46 +0.30
S&P BSE 100 10,893.28 +19.70 +0.18

S&P BSE SENSEX Next 50 32,258.66 +181.01 +0.56

S&P BSE SENSEX 50 11,091.32 +12.50 +0.11

Index Current Pt. Change % Change

S&P BSE SENSEX 35,262.88 +25.20 +0.07

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HEAT MAP: S&P BSE Sensex
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Centrum Broking on Jagran Prakashan
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HDFC Securities on Exide
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Anand Rathi on Dishman Pharma
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Anand Rathi in Cadila
We believe a pick-up in market share of gToprol, launches and the launched Asacol HD (own version) would help maintain Cadila’s margins and earnings ahead. On the high base, we expect 8% and 9% CAGRs over FY18-21 in revenue and earnings respectively. We retain our Buy recommendation, with a revised target of Rs 435 (earlier Rs 444)
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Oil check

Oil markets on Friday remained weak as rising supply and concerns of an economic slowdown pressured prices, with U.S. crude now down by around 20 percent since early October. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $65.60 per barrel, down 4 cents, or 0.1 per cent from their last settlement. WTI is set to fall for a fifth week, down 4.1 per cent so far this week. Front-month Brent crude oil futures were at $70.69 a barrel, 4 cents above their last close. Brent is set for a 2.9 per cent drop for the week, its fifth straight week of declines.
oil, fuel
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Green shoots of liquidity for NBFCs, HFCs in commercial paper market

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Edelweiss on Aditya Birla Capital (ABCL)
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MARKET COMMENT Philip Marey, Senior US Strategist, Rabobank International
Monetary policy remains unchanged. The FOMC statement acknowledged the decline in unemployment and the slowdown in business investment. The midterm election outcome is not likely to have changed the Fed’s outlook, nor has it changed our Fed view. Our baseline scenario is a federal funds rate hike in December, another hike in March 2019, followed by an inversion of the curve in Q2. The latter would lead to a pause in the Fed’s hiking cycle. We would not be surprised to see the minutes, to be published on November 29, contain a signal for another technical adjustment to the IOER rate in December
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Emkay Global on Voltas
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We maintain our FY19/20 EPS estimates. We introduce FY21 estimates, factoring in revenue growth of 14% over FY20 and EBITDAM of 11.4%. We recommend a Hold rating, with a target price of Rs 525 (SoTP).
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HPCL surges 1.68%

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10:00 AM
Market check
Index Current Pt. Change % Change

S&P BSE SENSEX 35,101.01 -136.67 -0.39

S&P BSE SENSEX 50 11,050.71 -28.11 -0.25

S&P BSE SENSEX Next 50 32,166.02 +88.37 +0.28

S&P BSE 100 10,854.70 -18.88 -0.17

S&P BSE Bharat 22 Index 3,468.72 +1.55 +0.04
09:46 AM
Bharti Airtel dips 5% as Moody's places co's rating on review for downgrade

Shares of telecom major Bharti Airtel on Friday dropped as much as 5.21 per cent to Rs 290 apiece on BSE after Moody's Investors Service placed the company's rating on review for downgrade, following low levels of profitability and expectation of weak cash flow. Read more

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Nifty IT index is trading lower weighed by Wipro

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09:24 AM
MARKET COMMENT Chris Wood of CLSA
The US mid-term elections have come out more or less as expected. But despite the House of Representatives narrowly being captured by the Democrats this is not a “blue wave” for the Democrats since the Republicans did better than expected in the Senate. From a market standpoint GREED & fear would view the results as a marginal positive since Trump’s position has not been too weakened, though there will doubtless be a lot of impeachment noise.

Newsflow over the past week has revived hopes that GREED & fear’s base case will end up prevailing, namely that Donald Trump will end up doing a trade deal with China before the next round of tariff hikes. The main development was Donald Trump’s tweet last Thursday when he stated that he had a discussion with Chinese President Xi Jinping on trade issues and North Korea. This further supports GREED & fear’s base case, namely that Trump will also end up doing a deal with North Korea.
Christopher Wood, Managing Director & Equity Strategist, CLSA Christopher Wood, Managing Director & Equity Strategist, CLSA

09:24 AM
Bharti Airtel slips as Moody's Investors Service placed it's rating on review

09:19 AM
Sectoral trend on NSE

09:18 AM
Opening gainers and losers in BSE Sensex

09:16 AM
Market at open

At 9:15 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 35,090, down 147 points while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 10,570, down 28 points.
09:02 AM
Market pre-open
Index Current Pt. Change % Change

S&P BSE SENSEX 35,261.21 +23.53 +0.07

S&P BSE SENSEX 50 11,096.76 +17.94 +0.16

S&P BSE SENSEX Next 50 32,247.95 +170.30 +0.53

S&P BSE 100 10,897.26 +23.68 +0.22

S&P BSE Bharat 22 Index 3,483.15 +15.98 +0.46

Bharti Airtel to raise Rs 165 bn to refinance debt and pay for spectrum

The board of Bharti Airtel has approved raising of about Rs 165 billion through a mix of issuing non-convertible debentures (NCDs) and foreign currency bonds that will be used for refinancing of existing debt and spectrum liabilities.
As per a regulatory filing by the company, the board has approved "issuance of NCDs of up to Rs 100 billion on a private placement basis in such tranches/series and at such rates as may be approved from time to time on cumulative basis along with all NCDs issued by the company," the filing said.

Also, it added foreign currency bonds up to a limit of $1 billion (about Rs 64.82 billion) will be issued in one or more tranches.
The company, which is in close competition with latest telecom entrant Reliance Jio, has a consolidated net debt to the tune of Rs 917.14 billion at the end of December 2017.
The company said its earlier approval of shareholders' obtained for the issuance of NCDs up to Rs 100 billion is valid for a period of one year till March 31, 2018 and that is why it is seeking a fresh approval from shareholders.
The Sunil Bharti Mittal-led company further said any funds raised from the issuance of debt securities shall be used for routine treasury activities including refinancing of existing debt and spectrum liabilities.
As per information available with Airtel, it has issued multiple long-dated bonds across USD, EUR and CHF to raise the equivalent of $6.2 billion till date. These bonds are spread across maturities ranging from 5 to 10 years.
Some bonds are due from 2020 to 2025 and one 1 billion euro bond is due this year.
The company had been raising money for the past one year to pare debt. It has also reduced stake in tower subsidiary Bharti Infratel to get an additional amount of funds as it looks to fight off Reliance Jio. The company may further dilute its stake in Infratel.
To gear up its war chest, Airtel had already announced to increase capital expenditure guidance for the financial year 2018 to Rs 250 billion from Rs 200 billion.

IUC cut impact: Reliance Jio trumps Bharti Airtel in December-quarter

The challenger has outdone India’s largest telecom services provider if the December-quarter numbers are anything to go by. Incumbent Bharti Airtel turned in a consolidated net profit of Rs 3.05 billion across its telecom businesses in India and Africa, while Reliance Jio, which started its services in September 2016, made a profit of Rs 5.04 billion.
While Airtel’s India wireless operational performance was one of its worst in recent times, Jio surprised the Street by reporting a higher expected operating and net profit.
Jio was aided by strong subscriber addition and average revenue per user (ARPU), which held steady at Rs 154, compared to the September quarter. Airtel’s ARPU, on the other hand, fell 15 per cent.
Further, while the sharp 57 per cent cut in interconnect usage charges (IUC) and customer downtrading to lower value packs significantly dented Airtel’s operating profit and margins, Jio gained from the IUC cut.
Thus, while Airtel’s margins were down nearly 180 basis points to 32.6 per cent, Jio’s margins were up nearly 15 percentage points to 38.2 per cent.
Even on the subscriber additions front, while Jio's subscriber base increased 22 per cent to 160 million, the same for Airtel was 290 million, up about 3 per cent. The strong operating performance helped Jio post a net profit of Rs 5.04 billion, against analysts' expectations, which were pegged at a tenth of this. Airtel does not report net profit for the India wireless business. Its Ebit figure was Rs 1.66 billion, down 93 per cent over the year-ago quarter.
Reliance Industries CFO Alok Agarwal said the telecom service had become profitable three years before industry estimates. Given the sharp drop in IUC, Jio posted an operating profit of Rs 26.28 billion up 82 per cent over the September quarter. This came despite network operating expenses going up 26 per cent and licence/spectrum charges rising 55 per cent. Jio saw gross subscriber addition of 27.8 million and net subscriber addition of 21.5 million during the quarter.
"The earlier-than-expected break-even at net profit level for Reliance Jio is a positive surprise for the Street. We maintain our Buy rating on RIL," said Abhijeet Bora, research analyst, Sharekhan.

Bharti Airtel Q3 net declines 39% to Rs 3.06 bn; ARPU down 15% at Rs 123

Telecom major Bharti Airtel reported 39% drop in net profit at Rs 3.06 billion for the quarter ended December 2017 as against Rs 5.03 billion in year-ago period, after telecom regulator Trai ordered a sharp cut in mobile interconnection fees.
Company announced interim dividend of Rs 2.84 per share.
Revenue for the quarter declined 13% to Rs 203.18 billion as compared to Rs 233.35 billion in December 2016.
Average revenue per user (ARPU) declined 15% on quarterly basis at Rs 123.
On Thursday, Airtel stocks on BSE closed 1.17% lower at Rs 494.50 apiece.