Bharti Airtel announced that an affiliate of private equity firm Warburg Pincus will acquire a stake of up to 20 percent in Bharti Telemedia, the DTH arm of Airtel. The acquisition price reaches around USD 350 million. Of this, a 15 percent stake will be sold by Bharti Airtel and the balance by another Bharti entity which holds 5 percent.
Bharti Telemedia offers DTH services in India under the Airtel TV brand. Bharti Telemedia ended September with 14 million subscribers. The company also reported revenues of around USD 550 million for the 12-month period ended 30 September 2017. According to Airtel, its DTH unit Airtel TV has over 1,500 partners and over 158,000 recharge outlets in 630 districts of India.
Following the completion of the transaction, Airtel will own an 80 percent equity stake in Bharti Telemedia. The Airtel board has already approved the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals. As part of the transaction, Viraj Sawhney, who serves as managing director of Warburg Pincus India, will join the board of Bharti Telemedia.
