Bharti Airtel shares fall nearly 3% as reports emerge of Singtel's move to trim stake via ₹856 crore block deal

Shares of Bharti Airtel plunged as much as 2.92% to ₹1,812.50 on the NSE during morning trade on Friday, following reports that Singapore-based telecom conglomerate Singtel plans to offload a portion of its stake in the company via a block deal.

The stock opened lower at ₹1,834, down 1.7% from its previous close of ₹1,867.20, and was trading at ₹1,819.80 at 9:50 am.

According to media reports, Singtel is set to sell 4.76 crore shares, or a 0.8% stake, in Bharti Airtel through a block deal valued at ₹856 crore. The offer price has been fixed at ₹1,800 per share — a 3.3% discount to the stock’s closing price on Thursday. JPMorgan is managing the transaction. CNBC-TV18 and Business Standard cited sources indicating that the total sale could amount to around $1 billion if further tranches are executed.

The shares being sold are held by Pastel Ltd, a subsidiary of Singtel, which owns a direct 9.49% stake in Bharti Airtel as of the March 2025 quarter. Singtel also holds an indirect stake in the telecom major via Bharti Telecom, Airtel’s promoter entity.

The development comes just days after Bharti Airtel posted a fivefold surge in net profit to ₹11,022 crore for the March quarter (Q4FY25), compared with ₹2,071.6 crore a year ago. The sharp increase was driven primarily by tariff hikes and improved subscriber quality. Revenue from operations rose 27.3% year-on-year to ₹47,876.2 crore, while EBITDA grew nearly 40% to ₹27,404 crore.

India mobile services revenue climbed 20.6% y-o-y to ₹36,735 crore, supported by a rise in average revenue per user (ARPU) to ₹245, up from ₹209 a year earlier. Airtel’s India subscriber base also expanded to 42.4 crore.

Singtel’s divestment move is seen as part of its broader capital recycling strategy.

Despite strong operational performance, the overhang of a large shareholder offloading a stake weighed on investor sentiment. The stock had recently touched a 52-week high of ₹1,917 on May 7. The stock has risen 17% since January.