Vodafone Group Plc, a major British telco was eyeing to sell a 2.4% stake in the Indian tower company, Indus Towers through a block deal. The move was successful and the telco has raised Rs 1443 crore by selling 63.3 million shares at Rs 226.84 a share. Vodafone’s stake in Indus Towers has come down from 28.1% to 25.7%. The investors who purchased the stake were unnamed. According to an ET Telecom report, Vodafone Group is also planning to sell a 4.7% stake in Indus Towers to Bharti Airtel. It is worth noting that Bharti Airtel is already a major stakeholder in the tower company. Thus, if it is a deal that Airtel likes, the telco might be interested in buying the stake on offer from Vodafone Group.
Vodafone Group Further Interested to Sell Balance Stake
Vodafone Group is also looking to sell the remaining stake in Indus Towers to multiple interested parties. The British telco’s aim is to utilise the funds that are raised via the stake sale in boosting the balance sheet of Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL). VIL has been struggling to raise funds for years now. But soon enough, if the plans of Vodafone Group are successful, Vi would get some relief. It is worth noting that even if the Vodafone Group is successful in its plans, it won’t be able to inject more than Rs 3000 to Rs 4000 crore in Vi. This is because the telco has to use a chunk of proceeds to settle the outstanding receivables with Indus Towers. However, Vi won’t mind any amount of money coming its way as long as it is more than zero. There are no announcements from the Aditya Birla Group (ABG) on this front which is a little disappointing. With time, it will be clear how much money Vi will actually get from its current largest promoter, Vodafone Group Plc.
