UK's Vodafone Plc on January 10 said it completed placing its remaining 3% stake in Indus Towers to raise Rs 2,800 crore.
"Further to the announcement on December 4, 2024, Vodafone Group Plc announces that it has successfully completed the placing of its remaining 79.2 million shares in Indus Towers Limited ("Indus") representing 3% of Indus' outstanding share capital through an accelerated book build offering on December 5, 2024," said Vodafone Plc in a regulatory filing at London Stock Exchange.
The telecom firm said it raised Rs 2,800 crore ($330 million) of which Rs 890 crore ($105 million) has been used to "fully repay outstanding borrowings to Vodafone's existing lenders, secured against Vodafone's Indian assets and settle transaction fees".
Residual proceeds of Rs 1,910 crore have been used to acquire 1.7 billion equity shares in Vodafone Idea Limited through a preferential allotment of shares, thus increasing Vodafone's shareholding in Vi to 24.39% from 22.56%.
At 1 pm on January 10, Indus Towers shares on NSE were trading nearly 2% lower at Rs 324.8 apiece while those of Vodafone Idea were trading 1.1% lower at Rs 7.83 apiece.
The acquiring entities in Vi were Omega Telecom Holdings Private Limited and Usha Martin Telematics Limited.
"Vi have used the proceeds from this Capital Raise to pay outstanding Master Service Agreement dues to Indus. Following this, Vodafone's obligations to Indus under the Security Arrangements have now been satisfied in full," said Vodafone Plc.
The sale completes Vodafone’s phased divestment in Indus Towers. In June 2024, Vodafone sold an 18% stake in Indus Towers for Rs 15,300 crore, reducing its holding to 3%. India's second largest telecom firm Bharti Airtel had increased its stake in Indus Towers to 48.95% during that sale by Vodafone. Earlier, in 2022, Vodafone offloaded a 7.1% stake.
This sale concludes Vodafone’s multi-year phased exit from Indus Towers, driven by persistent pressure from lenders to repay outstanding debt. Earlier, Vodafone’s lenders, including a group of foreign banks led by BNP Paribas, HSBC, and Bank of America, had demanded full repayment of loans secured against Vodafone’s Indian assets. These borrowings were initially raised to subscribe to Vodafone Idea’s rights issue.
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