SingTel ups stake in Bharti to 32.04%

Singapore Telecommunications increased on Friday its stake marginally in Bharti Airtel to 32.04 per cent by purchasing around 15 lakh (1.5 million) shares in an open market deal for about Singapore dollar 12.45 million or Rs 42.27 crore (Rs 422.7 million).

South East Asia's largest telecoms company SingTel's wholly-owned subsidiary Viridian Ltd purchased 1.58 million shares of Bharti Airtel for an aggregate cash consideration of Rs 42.27 crore or Singapore dollar 12.45 million, the company said in a filing to a Singapore stock exchange.

The purchase has been made at stock's yesterday's closing price of Rs 280.95 a share on the National Stock Exchange.

Incidentally, the stock on Friday ended close to 10 per cent higher at Rs 308.10 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the global financial services company Credit Suisse upgraded the stock citing stable call tariffs.

During intra-day, it was trading at nearly three-month high level of Rs 310 a share. SingTel's was holding 32.0 per cent stake before today's share purchase.

This week, the government-owned life insurer LIC had upped its stake in Bharti Airtel to five per cent after acquiring 500,000 shares, representing a 0.013 per cent stake for Rs 13.17 crore (Rs 131.7 million) through an open market transaction.