Bharti Airtel Block Deal: SingTel Offloads 1.2 Per Cent Stake, Shares Dive 3 Per Cent

Bharti Airtel shares tumbled as much as 3 per cent to an intraday low of Rs 1,810 per share on the NSE on May 16 amid reports of a block deal. On the NSE, as of 10 AM, Bharti Airtel's counter clocked over Rs 15,000 crore turnover, the highest for any scrip listed on the exchange so far. On the BSE, the turnover crossed Rs 900 crore around the same time.

According to media reports, as much as 3.1 crore shares of Bharti Airtel changed hands through a large block deal, representing 1.2 per cent of the company's equity. The shares were transacted at Rs 1,800 per share floor price, a 3.6 per cent discount to the previous closing price of Rs 1867.20.

Bharti Airtel Block Deal: SingTel Seller, Who's The Buyer

Pastel Limited, the investment arm of Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), was the seller as it was looking to offload nearly five crore shares of Bharti Airtel. The reports estimated the transaction size to be Rs 8,500 crore (around $1 billion). As of the quarter ended March 31, 2025, Pastel held a 9.49 per cent stake or 57.82 crore shares in Bharti Airtel.

SingTel, in a press release, confirmed that it has sold approximately 1.2 per cent of its direct stake in Airtel today for S$2 billion as part of its "active capital management approach to optimise its asset portfolio and drive shareholder returns sustainably". The Singapore-based telecom company added in its press release, "A large majority of the transaction was sold to domestic mutual funds and international long-only funds."

Bharti Airtel shares have delivered benchmark-beating returns over the past year, gaining around 35 per cent. On an year-to-date basis, the shares have rallied over 13 per cent. The stake sale comes at a time when Bharti Airtel's shares are trading near their all-time high level, buoyed by its stellar March 2025 quarter results (Q4 FY25).

Bharti Airtel Q4 Results

The telecom company reported a strong growth of 432 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in its net profit for Q4, which came in at Rs 11,021.8 crore. The net profit in Q4 FY25 stood at Rs 2,071.6 crore. Sequentially, however, its net profit dropped 25.43 per cent from Rs 14,781.2 crore in Q3 FY25.

Its revenue from operations grew 27 per cent YoY to Rs 47,876.2 crore as against Rs 37,599.1 crore in the previous year's corresponding quarter. On a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, revenues increased 6 per cent from Rs 37,599 crore.

The company noted in its exchange filing that it made an early payment of Rs 5,985.9 crore to the Department of Telecommunications on March 26, 2025, for the spectrum it bought in the 2024 auction. With this payment, the company has now cleared all outstanding dues related to that spectrum purchase. The telco further noted that it received favourable tax rulings related to past losses. As a result, it recorded a tax benefit of Rs 5,913.3 crore by recognising deferred tax assets that were not previously accounted for. Out of this benefit, Rs 26.5 crore was allocated to non-controlling interest.

During the quarter, the company said it applied hyperinflation accounting for its operations in Malawi. This led to a Rs 846.4 crore increase in the value of non-monetary assets, which also raised the company's equity by the same amount. This change was recorded under other comprehensive income.

Bharti Airtel's Board had also recommended a final dividend of Rs 16 per fully paid-up equity share and Rs 4 per partly paid-up share.