Airtel gets shareholders nod to raise Rs 10K cr

Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Thursday said its shareholders have approved a proposal to raise up to Rs 10,000 crore in debt.

The shareholders have also approved "transfer of company's investment in its wholly-owned subsidiary, Bharti Airtel International (Mauritius) Limited (BAIM)" to Network i2i Limited, Mauritius, another wholly-owned subsidiary, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Over 99 per cent of the shareholders approved special resolution of the company to "issue of unsecured/secured redeemable non-convertible debentures/bonds by way of private placements", the filing said.

The board of Bharti Airtel on January 24 had approved the proposal to raise debt up to Rs 10,000 crore.

The board of Bharti Airtel had approved rejig of its overseas arms on February 8 that will now operate under its wholly-owned Mauritius-based subsidiary Network i2i Ltd. BAIM is investment holding firm of Bharti Airtel.

Under the approved structure, Airtel's wholly-owned subsidiaries Bharti Airtel International (Mauritius) Ltd (BAIM), Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) B.V. (BAIN), Netherlands and Bharti International (Singapore) Pte Ltd (BISPL), Singapore will be held entirely by Network i2i Ltd (Ni2i), Mauritius, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company.

BAIN, which manages Africa operations of Airtel, will continue to hold the shareholding in African operating companies, the filing said.

Airtel's investments in its wholly-owned subsidiaries Bharti Airtel (USA) Ltd, Bharti Airtel (Hong Kong) Ltd and Bharti Airtel (UK) Ltd will be held entirely by BISPL.

The company said the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals but expects to complete it on or before March 31, 2017.