MUMBAI: On Thursday’s Bharti Airtel board meeting, the telecom company decided to take some vital steps in order to remain in competition of the Jio dominated telecom industry. Bharti Airtel has decided to sell a 32 per cent stake in Bharti Infratel. With this happening, the telco may raise over Rs 15,500 crore.

Furthermore, the company has also appointed Badal Bagri as its new CFO and KMP which will be effective from 1 March. He will replace the company’s current  global CFO and KMP Nilanjan Roy whose resignation was approved in the BOD meeting. The outcome of the meeting was announced in a regulatory filing on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Exploring fund raising options, the company board agreed to sell stakes to cut the ridden debt and boost its struggling business in the country.

Confirming its decisions in a regulatory filing, the telco wrote that the board has authorised and, “approved the sale/transfer of up to 591.87 million equity shares (32 per cent) of Bharti Infratel, to its wholly-owned subsidiary, Nettle Infrastructure Investments Ltd, to explore a potential monetisation of its (Bharti) Infratel stake, subject to the approval of shareholders.”

Additionally, in a separate filing concluding the meeting, it informed that the company “has formed and authorised a ‘special committee of directors for fund raising’ to comprehensively explore/evaluate various options of fund-raising for the company to strengthen its capital structure and balance sheet.”