In a short announcement to the Bombay Stock Exchange, India’s Bharti Airtel has said it will acquire the 30% it does not already own in Airtel Bangladesh.
India’s largest mobile operator did not disclose any financial details. The stake was bought…
In a short announcement to the Bombay Stock Exchange, India’s Bharti Airtel has said it will acquire the 30% it does not already own in Airtel Bangladesh.
India’s largest mobile operator did not disclose any financial details. The stake was bought from Abu Dhabi’s Warid Telecom.
Bharti first acquired a 70% stake from Warid in 2010, in a transaction with an estimated deal value of US$300m.
Airtel, whose 2012 results announced today failed to meet expectations, lags behind the three top operators in Bangladesh. In early April, the Bangladeshi government approved US$200m in foreign loans to the company in order to support the country’s telecoms market.
The buyout announcement comes just days after a similar deal between the two companies in Uganda. In late April, Bharti Airtel agreed to buy Warid Uganda outright from Warid Telecom.
No further information was provided. Bharti only indicated that it is planning to merge its Ugandan subsidiary Airtel, currently number two in the country, with Warid Uganda, which is number four.
Although Warid has sold its Ugandan and Bangladeshi investments, it recently consolidated its position in Pakistan. In mid-March, it snapped up the remaining 30% stake in Warid Telecom Pakistan from SingTel for US$150m.
Warid also continues as a carrier in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to its 2012 results published earlier today Bharit Airtel’s consolidated net income dropped 47% year-on-year, from Rs42.594bn (US$797.5m) in 2011 to Rs22.757bn (US$426.1m) in the financial year ending 31 March.
“The major reasons for this decline are: EBIT drop in India by Rs 11,087 million [US$207.58m], higher net interest costs of Rs 8,410 million [US$157.46m], lower forex losses by Rs 2,750 million [US$51.49m] and higher tax charges of Rs 4,549 million [US$85.17m],” the company said in a statement.
