Two block deals done for $22 m in Bharti

NEW DELHI: Two block share deals worth $22 million in Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd., India's most valuable telecoms company, were done early on Thursday on the Bombay Stock Exchange, trade data showed.

The identity of the buyers and sellers in the deals of 4.3 million shares at Rs 222 each were not immediately known.

A Bharti official said it was a "pure market transaction, and not related to the company's management".

Bharti, owned 32.81 percent by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., has a market value of about $9.5 billion. It was the top traded stock on the Bombay exchange in early deals.

Officials at private equity investor Warburg Pincus, which has been selling its holding over the past year, were not immediately available for comment.

In March Warburg, which originally held 18.52 percent of Bharti, sold about 6 percent in record-sized deals for $561 million.