Bharti Airtel board approves to raise up to $4 bn through equity dilution, debt funding

New Delhi: Telecom operator Bharti Airtel’s board on Wednesday approved raising $4 billion through equity dilution and debt funding. The board for now has given its go-ahead to raise up to $3 billion and has also approved raising an additional $1 billion, an official said. [caption id=“attachment_3300064” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A Bharti Airtel office building. Reuters[/caption] The board has given its approval to raise $2 billion through “one or more qualified institutional placement, public and/or private offerings of equity shares, compulsory convertible debentures/other convertible securities/warrants/ADR/GDR or a combination thereof”, according to a regulatory filing. The company has received an approval to raise $1 billion through foreign debt instrument and another $1 billion through issuance of “unsecured and/or secured, listed and/or unlisted, redeemable non-convertible debentures along with warrants or other similar security denominated in Indian National Rupee or combination thereof in one or more tranches”, the filing said. Apart from $2 billion, the overall issuance for now shall be up to $1 billion, thereby totalling to $3 billion, it added.