Vodafone Group has hung the ‘For Sale’ sign on its 4.39 percent indirect holding in Bharti Airtel, a move that could fetch it up to $2 billion and have a serious bearing on the ownership of India’s largest telecom company.

The British firm, the world’s largest mobile operator by revenues, bought a 10 percent stake in Bharti — its biggest rival in India — in 2005, but sold nearly half of that after it entered the Indian market on its own in 2007.

“No company will be happy with a small minority stake in another entity. If anybody is interested in buying our stake, we are for it,” Vodafone’s chief executive Vittorio Colao said.

Vodafone’s stake in Bharti could be worth around Rs 5,500 crore at current valuations, but if last month’s deal — that saw SingTel buy the 1.52 percent for Rs 3,008 crore — is any yardstick, the stake could fetch Vodafone as much as Rs 8,700 crore.

Colao declined to say on if Vodafone had held talks with prospective buyers and also refused to comment on the speculation that SingTel was interested in buying Vodafone’s stake in Bharti.

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