Bharti Airtel’s board has approved fundraising of up to $4 billion through equity dilution and debt funding.
The move has been undertaken primarily to pay dues linked to the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) as recently directed by the Supreme Court.
According to a regulatory filing, the board has approved raising $2 billion through one or more qualified institutional placement (QIP), public or private offerings of equity shares and compulsory convertible debentures etc. Additionally, the board has approved raising $1 billion through foreign debt instruments and another $1 billion through issuance of unsecured and/or secured, listed and/or unlisted, redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCDs) along with warrants or other similar security denominated in Indian National Rupee or combination thereof in one or more tranches.
Airtel has clarified that apart from $2 billion through QIP, the overall issuance (through a combination of foreign debt instruments and redeemable NCDs and warrants etc) for now shall be up to $1 billion, making it a total of $3-billion fundraising.
