Singtel has agreed to raise its stakes in Thailand operator AIS and India's Bharti Airtel. The company will buy Singapore investment company Temasek's 21 percent of Intouch Holdings, the largest shareholder in AIS, and 7.39 percent of Bharti Telecom, the holding company for Airtel, for a total consideration of SGD 2.47 billion (USD 1.84 billion) cash.
Singtel said it will fund the deal with internal cash, short-term debt and proceeds from the sale of 386 million new Singtel shares to Temasek. The share issue is worth SGD 1.605 billion, at a slightly discounted price of SGD 4.16 per new share.
Singtel will pay Temasek THB 60.83 for each share of Intouch and INR 235.62 for each share of Bharti Telecom. The transaction is subject to regulatory and minority shareholder approvals and is expected to be completed by December.
