Pastel Ltd, an entity of Singtel, has divested a 1.59 percent stake in Bharti Airtel for Rs. 7,261 crore through an open market transaction.

The stake, sold on Thursday, has been picked by Bharti Airtel’s promoter, Bharti Telecom Ltd, as per block deal data with the NSE.

According to the data, Pastel offloaded 9,40,00,000 shares, amounting to a 1.59 percent stake in the company.

The shares were disposed of at an average price of  Rs. 772.5 apiece, taking the transaction value to Rs. 7,261.50 crore, PTI reported from New Delhi. After this transaction, Pastel’s shareholding in Bharti Airtel will decrease to 10.62 percent from 12.21 percent.

At the end of the June quarter, Pastel held a 13.84 percent stake in the firm, shareholding data with the bourse showed, PTI reported from New Delhi.

Bharti Group Chairman, Sunil Bharti Mittal’s family, and Singtel are co-investors in Bharti Telecom Ltd (BTL).

In early September, Singtel entities had jointly sold a 1.76 percent stake in Bharti Airtel for about Rs. 7,128 crore, while Bharti Telecom Ltd bought a 1.63 percent stake from Pastel for Rs. 6,602 crore.

Last month, Singtel announced that its affiliates have agreed to transfer approximately 3.33 percent stake to BTL for an aggregate amount of approximately Singapore$ 2.25 billion, leaving direct shareholding of Singtel and Bharti in Airtel at around 10 percent and 6 percent, respectively.