Bharti Airtel signs definitive agreement to buy Telenor India (India)

Bharti Airtel has signed a definitive agreement with Telenor South Asia Investments Pte to acquire Telenor India. Under the agreement, Airtel will take over Telenor India’s operations in An­dhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Ut­tar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West) and Assam. It will also take over Te­le­nor’s out­­standing spectrum payments and op­e­rational contracts, including tower leases.

Bharti Airtel acquires strategic equity stake in Seynse Technologies

Bharti Airtel has acquired a strategic equity stake in financial technology start-up Seynse Technologies for an undisclosed am­­­­ount. The acquisition was carried out through its subsidiary, Bharti Airtel Ser­vi­ces. Seynse has created a digital lending plat­­form, Loan Singh, which offers loans to creditworthy but un­derserved borrowers.

Idea Cellular to raise Rs 5 billion through sale of corporate bonds

Idea Cellular is planning to raise Rs 5 billion through the sale of corporate bonds. The bonds will offer a return of 8.03 per cent with a five-year maturity period and are proposed to be listed on the National Stock Exchange. This is the operator’s latest move in a series of fund-raising initiati­ves to take on the increasing competition in the market. In February, Idea had raised Rs 10 billion via the sale of corporate bonds.

Providence to sell its stake in Idea

As per a termsheet, private equity (PE) firm Providence is likely to sell its last 3.33 per cent stake, worth approximately Rs 12.67 billion, in Idea Cellular through a block deal. The deal will mark the PE firm’s exit from the telecom operator. In 2006, Providence had bought a 15 per cent stake in Idea Cellular for around Rs 18 billion through its investment arm P5 Asia Investment and has been continuously selling stake since then. Earlier, in June 2016, the firm offloaded a 3.47 per cent stake in Idea for Rs 13.83 billion. The Citi Group is the sole bookrunner for the deal.

TTSL to raise Rs 100 billion through CCPSs

Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) has obtained its shareholders’ consent to double its authorised capital to Rs 400 billion and raise up to Rs 100 billion through compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPSs) on a rights basis with a view to clean up its balance sheet. The shares will eventually be converted into equity shares at a fair market value determined on the date of conversion. The option to convert will accrue within three months of the allotment of the CCPSs, but not later than three years from the date of allotment.

TTSL in talks with ATC to sell its entire stake in Viom Networks

TTSL is reportedly in talks with the American Tower Corporation (ATC) to sell its entire stake in tower company Vi­om Networks for Rs 40 billion. ATC had acquired a 51 per cent stake in Viom Net­works from TTSL and SREI Infra­structure Finance for Rs 76.35 billion, brin­ging down TTSL’s stake to 26 per cent. Earlier, TTSL and SREI Infra­structure Finance held 54 per cent and 18 per cent stake in Viom respectively.

PCCW to sell $1.1 billion worth of shares in HKT (Hong Kong)

Hong Kong-bas­ed te­l­ec­om group PCCW is planning to sell $1.1 billion worth of share stapled securities in HKT Trust and its telecom subsidiary, HKT. The sale will be carried out through its subsidiary holding company, CAS Holding No. 1 Limited. A total of 840.747 million HKT share stapled units will be sold at HKD 10.15 each. CAS currently holds 63.07 per cent of HKT’s share stapled units. Following the sale, its holding will reduce to 51.97 per cent.

SingTel hires bank for advice on NetLink IPO (Singapore)

SingTel has hired three banks to manage the proposed initial public offering (IPO) for its wholly owned fibre broadband unit, NetLink Trust. The operator will be advised on the share sale by DBS, Morgan Stanley and UBS. Under the structural separation rules laid down by the telecom regulator, the Info­comm Development Au­tho­­rity of Singapore, SingTel must divest itself of more than 75 per cent of NetLink Trust by April 2018.

Digi.Com Berhad to raise MYR 5 billion to fund network upgrade (Malaysia)

Digi.Com Berhad has decided to raise MYR 5 billion from the sukuk market. The funds will be raised through the establishment of a 15-year Islamic medium term notes (IMTN) programme of up to MYR 5 billion, and a seven-year Islamic com­mer­cial pap­ers (ICP) programme of up to MYR 1 billion. The two instruments have a combined limit of MYR 5 billion in no­mi­nal value to support Digi’s funding needs. The funds will be us­ed to pay for network up­grades, as the operator plans to offer services in the 900 MHz spectrum band from July 2017. RAM Ra­t­i­ngs has assigned a rating of AAA/Stable and P1 to the IMTN and ICP progra­m­mes.

Vodacom gets approval for Tanzanian listing (Tanzania)

Vodacom Tanzania’s prospectus for its IPO to list 25 per cent of its shares on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange has been approved by the Capital Markets and Securities Authority (CMSA). The company will offer 560 million shares to the public at TZS 850 per share. As per the terms approved by the CMSA, the value of the 25 per cent stake has been estimated at TZS 476 billion.