Airtel to raise 500 million pound through bond issue

Chennai: Bharti Airtel on Friday announced that it intends to issue sterling bond of up to 500 million pound (about Rs 5,000 crore) to finance its existing loans. The bond, when issued, will be listed on the London Stock Exchange.

“This debut GBP (Great British pound) issue will be used for refinancing our existing loan portfolio. Besides utilising the capital and expertise of the United Kingdom in financing Indian telecom growth story, the issue will further strengthen the long-term strategic partnership between the two nations,” said Harjeet Kohli, group treasurer, Bharti Airtel.

The issue is subject to necessary authorisations, approvals, global credit environment and market conditions. Bharti Airtel is a leading corporate bond issuer from India and has issuances across maturities in US dollars, euro and Swiss francs, listed in bourses in Singapore, Frankfurt and Switzerland.

These bond issuances have helped Bharti diversify its investor base, currency exposure and extend maturity of its debt portfolio while setting a yield curve for its credit, said Harjeet Kohli. The bond issue will help the company drive its strategy of further diversification and extension of maturities.

On the other hand, Airtel has been selling its towers in the African region to reduce debt in its books. Airtel informed BSE in October that till then it had sold nearly 8,300 towers representing close to 60 per cent of its total tower base in Africa. The proceeds from the sale amounted to about $1.7 billion.

Airtel had announced in July that it intended to sell its towers across 13 countries in the African region. It is present across 17 countries in the continent. While four deals to sell towers have lapsed, the company has sold all its towers in seven countries so far. The sale process is on in two more countries.

For the African geography, Airtel had reported net losses of Rs 3,548 crore the year ended March 31, 2015 on a total revenue of Rs 26,907 crore. Loss in the region almost doubled while revenue marginally decreased from Rs 27,200 crore for the previous year.

Airtel in July had announced that it intends to sell its towers across 13 countries in the African region. It is present across 17 countries in the continent.

‘As at March 31, 2015, the African region contributed to about 28 per cent of Airtel’s cumulative revenue while taking up about 35 per cent of the company’s total capital expenditures.

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