By Dhanya Ann Thoppil
BANGALORE--Bharti Airtel Ltd. (532454.BY) Thursday said it is
restructuring the board of directors of the mobile phone company as
well as unit Bharti Infratel Ltd. ahead of a planned listing of the
mobile tower unit on the Indian exchanges.
"There will now be separate representation for Bharti Airtel and
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. on the boards of two companies,"
India's largest mobile phone company by sales and number of users
said in a statement.
Southeast Asia's largest telecommunications company by revenue,
SingTel, holds 32.3% stake in Bharti Airtel.
The company has appointed Rakesh Bharti Mittal as the chairman
of Bharti Infratel, while Akhil Gupta, a non-executive director
with Bharti Airtel, has been named the vice chairman and managing
director of the mobile tower unit.
Mr. Gupta is also the deputy group chief executive and managing
director of Bharti Enterprises Ltd.--the parent company of Bharti
Airtel.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, the current chairman and managing director
of Bharti Airtel, will continue in the position, the company
said.
The move comes in the backdrop of an impending public listing of
Bharti Infratel, which filed a draft prospectus with India's market
regulator earlier this month for an IPO.
People familiar with the matter have previously told the Wall
Street Journal that Bharti Infratel is planning a $1 billion IPO in
India by December.
Bharti Infratel has more than 30,000 towers and also owns a 42%
stake in Indus Towers Ltd., a three-way venture with the Indian
unit of Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) and Idea Cellular Ltd.
(532822.BY).
Write to Dhanya Ann Thoppil at dhanya.thoppil@dowjones.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires