Bharti Airtel kicks off jumbo $3.5b rights issue

Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecommunications firm by number of users, kicked off on Friday one of the country’s largest capital raises. It plans to raise Rp250 billion $3.58 billion from a rights issue to help it compete with aggressive rivals.

Through the Reg S deal, Bharti Airtel is looking to issue 1.13 billion rights shares on a 19-for-67 basis. The shares account for 28.3% of the firm’s existing share capital and 22% on a fully-diluted basis.

Exactly the same size as Vodafone Idea’s rights issue that was completed last week, Bharti Airtel’s cash call will set a record as the joint largest equity offering in local currency...