Leading equity firm Warburg Pincus will now acquire 20% stake in Bharti Telemedia, which is Airtel’s DTH arm with the brand Airtel TV. For the purpose of the transaction, Warburg Pincus will take 15% stake from Bharti Airtel and 5% from another entity owned by Bharti group.
The deal has been sealed at a price of $350 million, which is approximately Rs. 2,255 crores. Airtel Digital TV provides services across the country, and after the 20% stake sale, Airtel will retain 80% stake in the venture. Warburg Pincus is a global private equity firm with a focus on growth investing.
Bharti Telemedia: Airtel Digital TV
Bharti Telemedia is the DTH arm of Bharti group that operates with the brand Airtel TV. The company lands among the top three DTH service providers in the country. Launched back in 2008, the company claims their DTH business runs with industry-leading profitability.
With over 1,500 partners and over 1,58,000 recharge outlets, Airtel TV has approximately 630 districts in India. Currently, the company enjoys a 14 million strong subscriber base and made $550 million revenue in the past 12 months period ended November.
Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel, said,
“Airtel has enjoyed a very successful partnership with Warburg Pincus in the past and we are excited to partner with them once again in an attractive and fast growing space. Airtel TV is very well positioned in the DTH space, and we are committed to grow our share of the market through a combination of innovation, value engineering, customer service and distribution initiatives. We look forward to working with Warburg Pincus towards achieving our vision of making Airtel TV India’s leading DTH platform.”
Vishal Mahadevia, Managing Director, and Co-Head, Warburg Pincus India commented,
“The Indian Digital TV market is expanding rapidly and we believe that Airtel DTH is well positioned to capitalize on incremental growth in digitization and new TV penetration in Tier 3 and 4 towns and rural areas. We are pleased to be working alongside Sunil Bharti Mittal and the Bharti group again following our successful partnership many years ago, and we look forward to supporting the management team during the next phase of the Company’s growth.”
