Bharti Airtel Ltd. (BHARTI), India’s largest mobile-phone operator, said it may raise as much as $1 billion from an overseas bond sale to pare borrowing costs after reporting its lowest quarterly profit in more than four years.
Bharti “would look to raise $750 million to $1 billion” from the issue, Group Chief Financial Officer Manik Jhangiani said at an earnings briefing. The New Delhi-based company may start the sale once market conditions improve, he said.
Bharti, which bid 156 billion rupees ($3.2 billion) last year at auctions of airwaves to offer faster wireless services, has started writing off the amount it spent on the spectrum and is paying higher interest on borrowings used to fund expansion. The phone carrier controlled by billionaire Sunil Mittal today reported a 38 percent drop in profit, missing analyst estimates for a fifth straight quarter, as costs stemming from purchases of airwaves for third-generation services offset higher sales.
“They were trying to replace their high-priced existing debt they took for 3G spectrum, with lower-priced debt,” said Nitin Soni, an associate director at Fitch Ratings India Pvt. in New Delhi. “They’re on the road -- it all depends on how the market will improve.”
Bharti rose 1 percent to 397.30 rupees at the close of trading in Mumbai, compared with a 0.5 percent advance by the benchmark Sensitive Index, or Sensex. The stock has gained 11 percent this year compared with the Sensex’s 14 percent drop. Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM), India’s second-ranked mobile-phone company by subscribers, has declined 43 percent this year.
Syndicated Loan
Bharti had in June planned meetings with bond investors in Asia, Europe and the U.S., a person familiar with the matter said at the time. The wireless carrier last year raised 88 billion rupees from a six-year syndicated loan to pay for the spectrum for offering third-generation mobile-phone services.
Barclays Plc, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc, Standard Chartered Plc and UBS AG were arranging meetings, the person, who asked not to be identified because the details were private, said in June.
k2 smokesalvia experiences
