Not Mukesh Ambani's RIL! Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel In Advance Talks To Buy 49% Stake In Haier India - Report

Haier India Acquisition: Billionaire founder of Bharti Airtel, Sunil Mittal, is set to acquire 49 per cent stake in Chinese home appliances giant Haier's India unit, according to a Bloomberg report.  

As part of this major acquisition process, telecom major Bharti Airtel has roped in Warburg Pincus to buy the stake in the Qingdao-headquartered firm for USD 2 billion.  

Mittal Beats Ambani To Acquire Haier India

This comes after Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) led by Mukesh Ambani was establishing itself as a key contender to Bharti Airtel to acquire Haier India's operations, given the firm's aim to strengthen its local presence via strategic partnership with an Indian ally.  

The Chinese electronics and home appliances major Haier’s revenue in South Asia grew by more than 30 per cent in the first quarter from the year earlier period, and its side-by-side refrigerators took control of 21 per cent market share in Indian sub-continent, the consumer electronics manufacturer informed as per an exchange filing dated April 29.

Reportedly, Haier's India unit was mulling over selling off a share ranging anywhere between 25 per cent and 59 per cent. In the following month last year, this piqued the interest of possible investors such as Temasek Holdings Pte, GIC PTe, and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co.

As of 1:33 pm on May 9, shares of the New-Delhi headquartered Bharti Airtel were trading 1.80 per cent lower at Rs 1,839.95. At this price, this telecom stock has surged 15.35 per cent on a year-to-date (YTD) basis.

According to BSE, the scrip has a price-to-equity (P/E) ratio of 70.11 against a price-to-book (P/B) value of 10.85. Meanwhile, the Earnings per share (EPS) stood at 26.27 with a return on equity (RoE) of 15.47.

As of March 2025, promoters held a 52.42 per cent stake in the company. The telecom firm is slated to declare its quarter ended march result for fiscal year 2025 2025 on May 13.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Sunil Mittal and his family have a net worth of USD 28 billion.