Sri Lankan telecom operator Dialog Axiata has signed a definitive agreement to buy Bharti Airtel's operations in the island nation, the companies said, nearly a year after the merger was announced.
Under the agreement, Dialog Axiata will acquire a 100 per cent stake in Airtel Lanka by issuing Bharti Airtel a 10.4 per cent stake in Dialog Axiata.
Dialog Axiata is majorly owned by Malaysia's Axiata Group.
Airtel Lanka is the Sri Lankan unit of India's Bharti Airtel.
The companies said the share swap would be valued by an independent body.
The deal has been approved by Sri Lanka's telecom regulator but has yet to be cleared by Dialog Axiata's shareholders and the Colombo Stock Exchange.
Airtel Lanka contributed a mere 0.2 per cent of parent Bharti Airtel's consolidated turnover in fiscal 2023, the company said in an exchange filing.