Bharti Telecom buys Airtel shares for Rs 172 crore

Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecom operator, on Friday said one of its promoter group entity Bharti Telecom has bought 57.14 lakh shares in it for Rs 171.92 crore through various market transactions.

Bharti Telecom's stake in Bharti Airtel has been now been raised to 43.72 per cent, the telecom company said in a filing to the BSE.

Bharti Telecom bought 13.04 lakh shares for Rs 38.18 crore at NSE and 54,000 shares for Rs 1.58 crore at BSE on March 25, thus raising its stake marginally from 43.57 per cent to 43.61 per cent, the filing said.

On March 26, Bharti Telecom purchased 22.71 lakh shares for Rs 67.53 crore at NSE and 1.34 lakh shares for Rs 3.99 crore at BSE, which led its stake to increase to 43.67 per cent.

Additionally, the promoter group entity bought 17.50 lakh shares for Rs 54.41 crore at NSE and 2 lakh shares for Rs 6.2 crore at BSE on March 27, further raising the stake to 43.72 per cent, it added.

As on quarter ended December 2013, Bharti Telecom held a 43.57 per cent stake in the company.

The promoter group had a 65.23 per cent stake in the company at the same period.

Shares in Bharti Airtel, on Friday, ended at Rs 317.50 apiece on the BSE, up 2.19 per cent from the previous close.