Bharti Airtel Explores Bharti Hexacom IPO, Eyes Rs 20,000 Crore Valuation

23 Nov 2023 , 12:38 PM

Bharti Airtel’s stock traded mildly higher at Rs 971 on November 23 amid reports of the telecom provider initiating the process to take subsidiary Bharti Hexacom public. This potential IPO would mark the first from the Bharti Group in over a decade, and if realized, Bharti Hexacom’s valuation is estimated at Rs 20,000 crore.

The IPO is intended to facilitate a partial or complete exit for government-owned Telecommunications Consultants India (TCIL), which holds a 30% stake in Bharti Hexacom.

Bharti Airtel has appointed investment bankers, including Axis Capital, SBI Cap, IIFL, and ICICI Securities, to commence the IPO process, with a possible completion by early 2024.

The last IPO from the Bharti Group was Bharti Infratel, now known as Indus Towers, listed in 2012. On November 22, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Tamil Nadu, imposed a penalty of Rs 2.4 lakh on Bharti Airtel for alleged violation of subscriber verification norms.

In the September quarter, Bharti Airtel’s consolidated net profit declined by 37% YoY, while revenue from operations grew 7.2% YoY. Bharti Airtel’s Indian operations saw an improvement in average revenue per user (ARPU) per month to Rs 203, up 1.5% QoQ, with a 4.4% increase in mobile customer count to 34.23 crore.

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