Bharti Airtel shares decline on reports of Singtel’s Pastel offloading stake

The floor price for the sale has been pegged at ₹1,800 per share — a 3.6% discount to Bharti Airtel’s Thursday closing price of ₹1,863.1. The transaction includes a 60-day lock-up period during which no further stake sales will be permitted by Pastel.

As of the March 2025 quarter, Pastel held a 9.49% stake in Bharti Airtel. 0.8% divestment would modestly reduce its shareholding while unlocking significant value.

Despite the planned stake sale, Bharti Airtel stock closed 1.6% higher on Thursday and remains among the top performers on the Nifty in 2025, with a year-to-date gain of 17%. The stock is also trading close to its 52-week high.

Earlier this week, Bharti Airtel reported a five-fold jump in consolidated net profit to ₹11,022 crore for the March quarter, driven primarily by the impact of tariff hikes. Revenue from operations rose 27% year-on-year to ₹47,876.2 crore, while Indian operations contributed ₹36,735 crore, marking a 28.8% increase.

Its average revenue per user -- a key matrix of a telco's business -- grew about 17% to ₹245 during the quarter from ₹209 a year earlier.

The India subscriber base grew to 42.4 crore in March 2025 quarter.

As of 9:20 am, Bharti Airtel shares traded 2.45% lower at ₹1,821, underperforming the SENSEX which was down 0.28%.