On June 9, 2020 Bharti Airtel’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Bharti International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.,(BISPL) directly and through its affiliate entities, has acquired an additional 6.3% stake in Robi Axiata Limited, Bangladesh from Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) Do Communications over the Mobile network(Docomo) Inc and its group entities for an undisclosed sum.
Key Points
i.This all-cash deal will raise the BISPL’s stake in Robi Axiata to 31.3% from 25% & has been approved by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.
ii.The acquisition of Robi Axiata’s ordinary shares from Docomo is done at mutually-agreed valuation which is non-material and is not disclosed due to privacy reasons.
Background
Bharti Airtel and Robi Axiata have announced merger of operations in Bangladesh in 2016. Till now Axiata held 68.7% controlling stake in the combined entity, Bharti Airtel 25% and the rest 6.3% was NTT Docomo.
Other major acquisitions
i.Bharti Telecom, the promoter company of Bharti Airtel has sold 2.75% stake in the company to institutional investors such as Blackrock, Seganti Capital, Norges Bank and Key Square Capital for over Rs 8,433 crore(USD 1.15 billion).
- This fund raised will be utilised to repay debt at Bharti Telecom and will make the promoter holding firm a ”debt free company.
ii.Jio Platforms has raised Rs 97,885.65 crore from marquee technology investors, including Facebook, KKR, Silver Lake Partners, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), and Mubadala.
About Robi Axiata Limited:
Robi Axiata Limited is the 2nd largest mobile network operator in Bangladesh.
Headquarters- Dhaka, Bangladesh
Managing Director(MD) & Chief Executive Officer(CEO)– Mahtab Uddin Ahmed
About NTT Docomo Inc:
Headquarters– Tokyo, Japan
President & CEO– Kazuhiro Yoshizawa
About Bharti Airtel Limited:
Headquarters– New Delhi, India
Chairman– Sunil Bharti Mittal
MD & CEO(India & South Asia)– Gopal Vittal
