Indian telco group Bharti Airtel is reportedly looking to sell a quarter of its DTH satellite TV business and is in talks with potential buyers.
The company is looking for a valuation of around US$1bn for Bharti Telemedia, according to local media…
Indian telco group Bharti Airtel is reportedly looking to sell a quarter of its DTH satellite TV business and is in talks with potential buyers.
The company is looking for a valuation of around US$1bn for Bharti Telemedia, according to local media reports citing sources.
A media analyst at an Indian brokerage told SatelliteFinance that he expected Bharti to be able to get the US$1bn valuation and raise US$200m-US$250m from the 26% stake sale, despite India’s crowded DTH marketplace.
“Bharti has such a strong brand which will help them attract investors,” he said. “I don’t think the competitive market will dampen the valuation.”
A number of buyers are said to be interested in the Bharti Telemedia stake, including cablecos Comcast and Liberty Global, as well as private equity firms KKR, Providence, Bain Capital and GAAP.
The analyst said he expected the acquirer to be a sponsor rather than a cableco.
Bharti Airtel was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.
Bharti Airtel recently launched a US$1bn 5.125% senior note offering, which was 9.5 times oversubscribed by investors. Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Standard Chartered and UBS acted as joint bookrunners and lead managers on the deal.
