Bharti initiates talks with FIs for Rs. 3,000 cr. debt

NEW DELHI, AUG. 5. Telecom major Bharti group has initiated discussions with various financial institutions and banks for raising upto Rs. 3,000 crores debt to part-fund its expansion plans for cellular, basic and proposed long distance operations.

"The group is in talks with some financial institutions and banks for raising a loan of upto Rs. 3,000 crores, which would mainly be used for expanding our network in cellular, basic and proposed long distance operations," Mr. Akhil Gupta, joint managing director of Bharti told PTI.Mr. Gupta said that the structure of the loan would be finalised soon. He, however, declined to divulge the name of financial institutions that the company was in talks with.

Estimating the total cost of expansion in the 3 telecom segments at about Rs. 6,000 crores, Mr. Gupta said that the proposed Rs. 3,000 crore debt would support part of the expansion plans. The balance Rs. 3,000 crore has already been tied-up by Bharti through equity, he added. In May this year, the company announced it had received additional equity investment of $460 million from various global partners including $200 million each from Singapore Telecom and Warbug Pincus.

Bharti had also attracted funds from other key investors such as AIF Funds Management which invested $35 million, IFC which put in $20 million and New York Life with $5 million.

The mopping up of debt follows the company's plans to expand its telecom network for which it has secured eight new cellular circles in the latest round of bidding.

The company emerged as a big player by winning eight circles of Mumbai, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, UP (west), Haryana and Gujarat for the fourth cellular slot in 17 circles, taking its total bid amount to Rs. 609.69 crores.

Bharti currently is a cellular player in Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai and Kolkata.

On the basic telephony front, Bharti which bagged letters of intent (LOI) for eight new circles, has decided to retain four circles of Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

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Section  : Business
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