Bharti Airtel's network down after block deal

The block deal constituted 0.14% of the company's equity.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 39.13 points, or 0.25%, to 15,667.88....

On BSE, 59.61 lakh shares were traded in the counter. The stock had an average daily volume of 8.75 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 414.80 and a low of Rs 403.70 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 495 on 19 May 2009 and a 52-week low of Rs 242 on 27 October 2008.

The large-cap stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 24 August 2009, falling 0.37% as compared to the Sensex's 1.62% rise. It had also underperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 3.49% as compared to the Sensex's return of 12.54%.

The company's current equity is Rs 1898.42 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5.

The current price of Rs 408 discounts the company's Q1 June 2009 annualized EPS of Rs 28.31, by a PE multiple of 14.41.

As per recent reports, Chairman Sunil Mittal on Monday, 24 August 2009 met the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Minister of Corporate Affairs Salman Khursheed to discuss proposed deal with South African firm MTN. The meeting comes at a time when Bharti Airtel and South Africa's MTN last week extended their merger talks for the second time till 30 September 2009.

Bharti and MTN are in exclusive talks since May 2009 for a $23-billion complex cash and share swap deal. As per the proposal, Bharti would acquire 49% in MTN and in turn MTN and its shareholders would buy about 36% economic interest in the Indian firm.

MTN Group is a South Africa-based multinational mobile telecommunications company, operating in many African and Middle Eastern countries.

Bharti Airtel's net profit rose 31.3% to Rs 2687.51 crore on a 14.5% increase in sales to Rs 9040.51 crore in Q1 June 2009 over Q1 June 2008.

Bharti Airtel provides mobile telecommunication services in India. It also provides fixed-line, VSAT, Internet and broadband services.