Indus Towers is set to become a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, with Airtel holding a 50.005% majority stake in the telecom tower company after a recent buyback.
This change will happen once the buyback process, including payments to shareholders and the cancellation of bought-back shares, is completed.
Indus Towers announced that on August 27, 2024, its board approved the buyback of 56.7 million shares at ₹465 each, totaling ₹2,640 crore. The buyback offer ended on August 21.
Earlier, Airtel, led by Sunil Mittal, increased its stake in Indus to 48.95% by purchasing an additional 1% for ₹862 crore. With the buyback, Airtel’s stake will rise to over 50%, making Indus Towers its subsidiary.
Indus Towers decided on the buyback to return cash to shareholders in a tax-efficient way since it hasn’t paid dividends in the last two years. The company believes this approach will help preserve funds for future dividend payments.
Shares of Indus Towers and Airtel both saw slight increases following the announcement.
In June, Vodafone, another co-promoter of Indus, sold an 18% stake in the company for ₹15,300 crore through an open market sale.
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