Sunil Mittal-led Indian Continent Investment to offload Rs 9,300 cr stake in Bharti Airtel via block deal

Indian Continent Investment Ltd (ICIL), a promoter group entity led by Sunil Mittal, is poised to offload a 0.8% stake in Bharti Airtel, amounting to Rs 9,300 crore, through a block deal on the stock exchanges this Friday. The deal involves the sale of 5 crore shares at a floor price of Rs 1,862 per share, which is approximately 3% lower than Thursday’s closing price of Rs 1,922.60.

Post this transaction, ICIL’s holding in Bharti Airtel will fall from 2.47% to 1.67%, although the overall promoter stake in the company will remain significant at over 51%, including stakes held through other entities like Bharti Telecom. Jefferies and JP Morgan are acting as advisors and bankers to the block deal, according to the term sheet accessed by Business Today.

This marks ICIL’s second major divestment in the past year. In February 2025, it had sold a 0.84% stake in Bharti Airtel, raising ₹8,485 crore. At that time, group entity Bharti Telecom Ltd, which currently owns 40.47% of Bharti Airtel, bought around a quarter of the shares on offer.

The stake sale comes at a time when Bharti Airtel is reporting solid operational performance, but also amid Sunil Mittal’s ongoing negotiations to acquire a 49% stake in Haier India, the local unit of the Chinese consumer appliance maker. Mittal, along with private equity major Warburg Pincus, has been in discussions for the investment, with the potential deal now pegged at Rs 6,000 crore, lower than earlier estimates of nearly $2 billion.

Analysts suggest that the current stake dilution may be part of a broader strategy by the Bharti group to rebalance investments and fund strategic ventures. Notably, last year, the group acquired a 24.5% stake in the UK’s BT Group from Altice UK in a $4 billion transaction. The deal, carried out via Bharti Global, was supported by $1.8 billion in debt from Barclays and involved both open market purchases and regulatory approvals.

Q1 FY26 results

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel posted strong financial results for the first quarter of FY26. The company reported a net profit of Rs 5,948 crore, although that represented a 46% sequential decline from the record Rs 11,021.8 crore in Q4FY25. Consolidated revenue stood at Rs 49,462 crore, exceeding analyst expectations of Rs 48,943 crore, driven by steady growth across its India and Africa operations.

EBITDA for the quarter rose to Rs 27,839 crore, compared to Rs 27,008.8 crore in the previous quarter, with a 56.3% margin. In India, revenue climbed 29% year-on-year to Rs 37,585 crore, supported by an ARPU (average revenue per user) of Rs 250, up from Rs 211 in Q1FY25, maintaining the telco’s leadership in monetisation metrics.

As of Thursday’s market close, shares of Bharti Airtel ended at Rs 1,924.70 on the BSE, down marginally by 0.26%.

The proposed stake sale by ICIL is expected to draw significant investor attention as Bharti Airtel gears up for future expansion, with IPO plans and strategic global investments on the horizon.