Bharti Airtel Services to purchase 97.1% of Beetel Teletech for Rs 669 crore

Bharti Airtel Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, has signed an agreement for the acquisition of 49.45 lakh shares or 97.1 per cent stake in Beetel Teletech. With an estimated acquisition cost of Rs 669 crore, this acquisition is a component of the company's plan to support indigenization efforts within its own telecom product ecosystem in compliance with the government's "Made in India" policy and to primarily enhance distribution and service capabilities (including system integration) for the enterprise business.   

"...as a part of group restructuring, Bharti Airtel Services Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary company of Bharti Airtel Limited has entered into an agreement for acquisition of 49,45,239 equity shares representing 97.1 per cent stake in another Bharti Group company, Beetel Teletech Limited, which also has 49 per cent stake in Joint Venture having two manufacturing facilities which produce telecom and networking products including those qualifying for Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme," the filing said adding that this is a cash transaction. 

Consequently, Beetel will become a subsidiary of the company. 

The acquisition is a related party transaction in terms of the provisions of SEBI listing regulations. Bharti Group companies namely Bharti Enterprises (Holding) Private Limited, Bharti (RM) Holdings Private Limited, Bharti (RBM) Holdings Private Limited and Bharti (LM) Enterprises Private Limited hold 97.1 per cent stake in Beetel. 

On the strength of its in-house technical capabilities, relationship with global OEMs and channel composing of a large number of channel partners, distributors and retailers, it is engaged in designing and delivering technical solutions and services and distributing a wide range of products from IT peripherals, network and enterprise solutions to fixed landlines and mobile accessories. 

Beetel distributes a host of leading brands including Avaya, HP/Poly, Samsung, Siemens, QSC, RADWIN, Ruckus, RAD, ADVA, and Actelis. 

Beetel also holds 49 per cent stake in a Joint Venture which has two facilities for manufacturing of landlines, telecom and networking products including products that are manufactured in compliance with the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme to Promote Telecom and Networking Products Manufacturing in India' notified by the Ministry of Communications, the BSE filing added.