Sunil Mittal Owned Airtel Seeking to Raise $1 Billion via Offshore Bonds

A statement from two persons with knowledge of the situation, Bharti Airtel is considering an offshore bond offering to generate up to $1 billion, or roughly Rs 8,200 crore, to restructure high-cost debt, strengthen its balance sheet, and cover some of its 5G capital expenditure requirements.

A number of reports, Barclays, Standard Chartered Bank, and Citi are in talks with India's second-largest telco about the possibility of floating US dollar bonds in one or more tranches on foreign markets this fiscal year.

According to a banker with knowledge of the situation, "Airtel is in preliminary discussions with banks for a dollar bond issuance of up to $1 billion." "All regulatory approvals would not come at once, and the talks are just getting started,"

While full contours of the fundraising have yet to be finalised, the offshore bonds are likely to have three-five year maturities, the people cited above said.

The Sunil Mittal-led telco's consolidated net debt rose 1.6% sequentially to Rs 2.13 lakh crore in the quarter ended March, largely due to an increase in lease liabilities.

Its managing director Gopal Vittal, in fact, had said during the telco's fourth-quarter earnings call last month that Airtel is looking to cut its debt to more comfortable levels as that would give it more headroom to manoeuvre and do things that the business needs for sustaining growth.The offshore fundraise plan via bonds also comes at a time when Airtel's annual India capital expenditure is estimated to stay elevated at around ₹28,500 crore this fiscal year, akin to the levels incurred in FY23, amid aggressive 5G rollouts and rural push.