Vodafone Idea Jumps 4.5% After Receiving Proceeds From Indus Towers Stake Sale

On Friday, shares of Vodafone Idea (VI) rose as much as 4.5 percent to Rs 9.7 on BSE after the telecom operator said in a regulatory filing that it has received Rs 3,760.1 crore cash for its 11.15 percent holding in Indus Towers.

The stake sale was part of the merger deal between Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers to form a mega tower company. Post-merger, Vodafone Group will hold 28.12 percent stake in the new entity, while the holding of Airtel Group will be about 36.7 percent.

The cash proceeds from the stake sale will help VI partially pay for its government dues.

Bharti Infratel said in the filing that confirmed the completion of the merger said that "the Board has allotted 757,821,804 equity shares of Rs 10 each to the Vodafone group and 87,506,900 equity shares of Rs 10 each to PS Asia Holding Investments (Mauritius) Limited (Providence) aggregating to 28.12 per cent and 3.25 per cent respectively in the post-issue share capital of the company."

The rally in Vodafone Idea shares is also being supported by talks of a consortium of investors comprising US-based Oaktree Capital Management and Varde Partners proposing to invest up to $2.5 billion in the telecom operator that owes more than Rs 50,000 crore to the department of telecommunications as adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues.