Bad news for Indian billionaire Sunil Mittal as Bharti Airtel's shares fall over 4% due to...; market cap declines to Rs...

Bharti Airtel stake sale: Shares of Indian billionaire Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel fell on Friday after Singapore's Singtel sold its huge stake in the telecom company. According to Reuters, Singtel had sold a 0.8 per cent stake worth USD 1.16 billion in Airtel as part of the Southeast Asian telecom company's ongoing asset restructuring strategy.

Singtel sells shares in Bharti Airtel

Singtel's unit Pastel sold 51 million shares of Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest telecom operator, at Rs 2,030 apiece, representing a discount of about 3.1 per cent to Airtel's last close on Thursday. Singtel has been an investor in Bharti Airtel since 2000.

Singtel's stake in Bharti Airtel

Singtel now holds a 27.5% stake in Bharti Airtel, down from 31.4 per cent in 2022. The telecom company has been gradually reducing its holdings to strengthen its balance sheet and enhance shareholder returns. The divestment is part of Singtel's mid-term asset recycling programme, which aims to fund investments in digital infrastructure and services.

Bharti Airtel shares

Bharti Airtel shares were down at 4.46  per cent on Friday and closed at Rs 2,001.50 on NSE. The market cap of Airtel stands at Rs 11.99 lakh crore, as of November 7. Bharti Airtel shares have more than quadrupled in value since 2019-end, underpinned by strong earnings growth and higher average revenue per user, allowing Singtel to realise gains from its long-held investment.

Sunil Mittal's Net Worth

According to Forbes, Mittal has a real-time net worth of USD 14.3 billion, as of November 8.

READ | India's largest bank joins USD 100 billion market-cap club after...; only behind Mukesh Ambani's Reliance, TCS and...

Bharti Airtel Q2 Results

Bharti Airtel reported a 2-fold rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 8,651 crore in the second quarter of FY26, the company said in an exchange filing recently. The company had clocked a profit of Rs 4,153.4 crore in the same period a year ago. Airtel's EBITDA for Q2 FY26 stood at Rs 29,919 crore, up 35.9 per cent YoY, while EBITDA margin stood at 57.4 per cent compared to 53.1 per cent YoY.