 "Florida-based GQG Partners ups India bet with Bharti Airtel stake buy")
Florida-based global equity investment fund GQG Partners has increased its bet on India by buying part of Singapore Telecommunications’ stake worth Rs 5,187 crore in Bharti Airtel on Thursday.
Singtel sold 0.87 per cent stake worth $711 million in Bharti Airtel, which attracted other investors too apart from GQG, as per data sourced from the stock exchanges.
GQG Partners also acquired an additional stake in real estate developer Macrotech Developers today, thereby increasing its exposure among Indian companies. The fund churned its portfolio as it sold 2 per cent stake in hospital chain Max Healthcare Institute via multiple on-market transactions between July 5, 2023 and March 4, 2024.
GQG Partners made news in March last year when it acquired shares worth Rs 15,446 crore in four Adani group-listed entities from the Adani family. The contrarian bet on Adani shares was made when the group’s shares were under scrutiny following a negative report from Hindenburg Research, a US-based short seller.
Contrarian strategy
Since then, GQG has raised its stake in Adani group shares. Its initial investment is now valued at $10 billion, driven by share price recovery and further acquisitions, fund manager Sudarshan Murthy told Bloomberg last month.
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The gains in Adani shares is considered a big win for contrarian bets made by Rajiv Jain, Chairman and Chief Investment Office of the fund, who founded the firm in June 2016 after 23 years of investment experience including as the Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Vontobel Asset Management.
As per Forbes, the net worth of 56-year old Jain, who was born in India and went to the United States in the early 90s, was estimated at $4.2 billion on a real-time basis.
In a recent media interview, Jain said there are very few large emerging markets across the world and India is one of them. “India has seen one of the best earnings growth among all emerging markets over the last five years and I think this earnings growth does not get enough air time because at the end of the day, earnings drive markets and when corporate earnings are as strong as it has been, the market will follow,” Jain told a news channel in February this year.
In the last year, GQG Partners invested in ITC, Patanjali Foods and GMR Airport Infrastructure among other investments (see chart).
An email sent to GQG Partners on Thursday did not elicit any response.
Meanwhile in a press statement today, Singtel said it will hold an effective stake worth an estimated $24.7 billion in Airtel, after selling part of its stake to GQG. “We’re pleased to have raised $0.71 billion, while adding a marquee name (GQG) to Airtel’s share base. The Group is now in an even stronger position to execute our disciplined capital approach of balancing investing for greater growth and delivering strong, sustainable returns for our shareholders,” said Arthur Lang, Chief Financial Officer of Singtel Group.