Vodafone to transfer Bharti stake by Nov '08

Britain's Vodafone, which acquired controlling stake in mobile firm Hutch-Essar, on Tuesday said it will transfer its 5.6 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel back to the Indian mobile leader by November next year.

Following acquisition of control in Hutch-Essar for $10.9 billion in cash, Vodafone had entered into a share sale agreement with Bharti regarding its 5.6 per cent equity in the company.

"The shareholding will be transferred in two tranches, the first before March 31, 2008 and the second by November 2008," Vodafone said in a statement after announcing its annual results for the year ended March 31.

"Following the completion of this sale, the Group will continue to hold an indirect stake of 4.39 per cent in Bharti Airtel," it added.

Vodafone completed the purchase of Hutch-Essar stake from Hong-Kong based Hutchison Telecom International Ltd on May 8.

The UK company paid $10.9 billion in cash to HTIL, as against the previously agreed price of $11.08 billion, reflecting retention and closing adjustments agreed between Vodafone and HTIL.

Vodafone said that Bharti Airtel irrevocably agreed on May 9 to purchase its 5.6 per cent shareholding and it expects to receive $1.6 billion in cash consideration for this shareholding by November 2008.

Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin said: "The last year has seen a further reshaping of Vodafone's portfolio, with our acquisitions in Turkey and India further increasing the Group's exposure to the exciting growth opportunities in emerging markets. We are well placed to continue delivering on our strategy."

Vodafone reported a six per cent rise in its total group revenue at 31.1 billion pounds for the year ended March 31, from 2.3 billion pounds in the previous year.

After accounting for impairment charges of 11.6 billion pounds, the group's full-year loss before taxes stood at 2.4 billion pounds in FY'07 - down from 14.8 billion pounds in the previous year, it said.

"We have met or exceeded our stated financial expectations for the year in all areas and made good progress executing the strategy we set out in May 2006," Sarin said.

In the current fiscal, the group revenue is expected to be in the range of 33.3 billion pounds to 34.1 billion pounds, with adjusted operating profit in the range of 9.3 billion pounds to 9.8 billion pounds, the company said.