Bharti Airtel to buy 20pc stake in its DTH arm from Warburg Pincus

BENGALURU: Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel Ltd said on Wednesday it will buy US private equity firm Warburg Pincus' 20% stake in its direct-to-home television arm for 31.26 billion rupees ($429.31 million).

Bharti Airtel, which is looking to consolidate the shareholding of its consumer facing businesses, said it will issue about 36.5 million shares to a Warburg Pincus affiliate at 600 rupees per share, and up to 10.38 billion rupees in cash.

"DTH is an integral part of our Homes strategy and this transaction is another step towards simplifying the shareholding of our customer facing businesses" said Harjeet Kohli, group director of Bharti Enterprises, the parent company of Bharti Airtel.