Bharti Airtel India ops need recovery, Africa stake sale will cut debt: S&P

S&P Global Ratings said Thursday Bharti Airtel's sale of a minority stake in its Africa subsidiary will ease some pressure on the rating of the India-based telecom company. Six global investors, including Warburg Pincus, Temasek, Singtel and SoftBank Group International, have agreed to invest USD 1.25 billion through a primary equity issuance in Airtel Africa. "Bharti Airtel's sale of a minority stake in its Africa subsidiary will ease some pressure on the rating on the India-based telecommunications company. Bharti will use the proceeds of about USD 1.25 billion to repay of debt," S&P Global Ratings said in a statement. Despite the reduction in leverage, S&P said it continues to see risk of a downgrade if the business performance of Bharti does not improve in line with our expectation over the next 12-18 months, such that the ratio of funds from operations to debt remains below 20 per cent, it said. Bharti continues to prudently manage its leverage by exploring options ..

from Markets https://ift.tt/2OPTWMW