Telecom major Bharti Airtel's board has approved raising Rs 21,000 crore via a rights issue.
The funds are expected to be utilised to bolster Airtel's cash reserves to pay statutory dues, deepen its 4G network and expand in the 5G space.
As per its release, shareholders will receive one new share for every 14 shares held at Rs 535 each, which is at a 10% discount to the stock's closing price of Rs 594 on Friday. 25% of the payment will be done on the application and the balance in two more calls within an overall time horizon of 36 months.
The promoter and the promoter group of Bharti Airtel will collectively subscribe to the full extent of their aggregate rights entitlement.
This is the company’s second rights issue in just over two years — it had raised Rs25,000 crore in May 2019.
As of end-June, the company had net debt of around Rs 1.6 lakh crore.
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According to Goldman Sachs, Airtel needs to pay Rs 4,100 crore in adjusted gross revenue dues to the government by March 2022, and also has spectrum fee payments of Rs 8,500 crore coming up in FY23.