Bharti Airtel shares rose as much as 2.56 per cent to Rs 574 on the BSE on Wednesday after the Carlyle Group announced it will invest $235 million for approximately 25 per cent stake in Nxtra Data Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel engaged in the data centre business.

The post-money enterprise valuation of Nxtra is approximately $1.2 billion and Carlyle will hold a stake of approximately 25% in the business upon completion of the transaction, with Airtel continuing to hold the remaining stake of approximately 75%, Bharti Airtel said in a statement. CLICK TO READ FULL REPORT

"Rapid digitisation has opened up a massive growth opportunity for data centres in India and we plan to accelerate our investments to become a major player in this segment. We are delighted to have Carlyle as a strategic partner in this exciting journey, particularly given their experience in this industry, and look forward to working with them," said Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel.

For the quarter ended March 2020, the telecom operator posted a consolidated loss of Rs 5,237 crore, mainly on account of provisions for statutory dues. The company had posted a profit of Rs 107.2 crore in the same period a year ago.

It registered a consolidated revenue of Rs 23,722.7 crore during the reported quarter. The company had posted revenue of Rs 20,602.2 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2018-19.

Geojit Financial Services, in a report dated June 30, said that rising average revenue per user (ARPU) and customer base should provide support to company valuations. "Additionally, the increased demand for broadband connections amidst Covid-19 will further improve topline. We reiterate our BUY rating on the stock with a revised target price of Rs 693 based on sum-of-the parts (SOTP) methodology," they wrote.

At 12:33 am, the stock was trading over 0.5 per cent higher at Rs 562.70 on the BSE as compared to 1 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.