Vodafone PLC likely to sell Indus Towers shares worth up to $1.1 bn via block deals

The telecom company has hired Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas to manage the stake sale in Indian stock markets, Reuters said.

Vodafone PLC is likely to sell 9.94 percent stake in Indus Towers to raise up to $1.1 billion through block deals on June 19.

The block deal for Indus Towers is likely to be launched at a 10 percent discount to the stock's current market price, showed the term sheet accessed by Moneycontrol. Vodafone will sell 26.8 crore shares at a price range of Rs 310-314, valuing the stake between $996 million to $1.1 billion, the term sheet showed.

Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities, Jefferies and BNP Paribas are the brokers to the deal, according to the term sheet.

Vodafone PLC and the investment banks were unavailable for an immediate comment.

The shares of Indus Towers closed on June 18 at Rs 346.45, up 1.67 percent on the National Stock Exchange, while Vodafone Idea jumped 0.84 percent to Rs 16.87.

Last week, Reuters had reported that the telecom group is looking to sell its entire $2.3 billion stake in Indus Towers through stock market block deals as part of the British firm's effort to repay debt.

Vodafone plans to repay part of its $42.17 billion net debt using proceeds from the Indus Towers stake sale, sources had told Reuters last week.

Vodafone owns 21.5 percent of mobile-tower operator Indus through various group entities.

Vodafone, in 2022, announced it would sell all of its then-28 percent stake, but has managed to sell only a small portion so far.

Vodafone Group's probable stake sale in Indus Towers could drive cashflows of $2.3 billion which could see accelerated repayment to vendors such as Indus Towers and even drive a special dividend to the shareholders of the Indian tower company, analysts at JPMorgan said in a note.