Bharti buys 70% stake in Warid

Bharti Airtel, India’s leading telecom services provider, said it has agreed to acquire a 70% stake in Warid Telecom, Bangladesh, currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Dhabi Group, for a nominal but undisclosed consideration. Bharti Airtel will also make a fresh investment of $300 million to expand the operations of Warid Telecom, which is also the largest investment in Bangladesh by an Indian company. The company declined to give details of the acquisition value which gives the Bharti Airtel management and board control of Warid Telecom while allowing the Dhabi Group to continue as a strategic partner with 30% shareholding and some Board representation. The acquisition by Bharti Airtel would be done partly by purchase the existing shares held in Warid Telecom International by Dhabi Group for a nominal consideration and the balance by way of issue of fresh shares at par. Grameenphone, which is owned by Nordic firm Telenor, is the largest mobile operator in Bangladesh with over 23 million subscribers and a 45.5% market share. Warid Telecom is the fourth largest operator with a total customer base of over 2.9 million across Bangladesh. The new funding of $300 million will be utilised for expansion of the network, both for coverage and capacity, and introduction of innovative products and services. As a result of this additional investment, the overall investment in the company will be in the region of $1 billion. Airtel clarified that this figure includes $700 million of existing investment by Warid Telecom. Sunil Bharti Mittal, CMD, Bharti Airtel, said, “This landmark deal underlines our intent to further expand our operations to international markets where we can implant our unique business model and offer quality and affordable telecom services. At the same time, it is a symbol of the growing economic cooperation between the South Asian countries and we would like to thank the Government of India and Bangladesh for their support and encouragement. “Bangladesh, with a population of over 160 million and teledensity of 32% is a very promising market for telecom services. Bharti is keen to work in Bangladesh and contribute to achieving the vision of Digital Bangladesh even sooner than 2021".