Bulk Deal Day- Vodafone leads with selling 18% stake in Indus Towers

Vodafone Plc successfully sold 484.7 million shares of Indus Towers, equivalent to an 18% ownership stake, in block deals on Wednesday. This transaction resulted in a total sale proceeds of Rs 15,300 crores.

This was the biggest deal within the domestic markets, where block transactions amounting to Rs 28,500 crore ($3.4 billion) took place on the very same day.

Other major deals included- Wabco Asia selling a 7.51% stake in ZF Commercial Vehicle Control Systems India for Rs 2,194 crores and Fosun Pharma selling a 6% equity stake in Gland Pharma for Rs 1,754 crores.

Additionally, WestBridge- a leading private equity firm, divested 1.75% of its ownership in AU Small Finance Bank for Rs 845 crores.

The increase in share sales mark a significant year for Indian markets. As reported by Bloomberg, India is the top country in Asia for block trades and share placements this year with deals amounting to over $20 billion (Rs 1.7 trillion).

JP Morgan analysts state that the majority of funds from the sale of Vodafone Plc's stake will be used to pay off existing debts, with Indus Towers expecting to recover around Rs 4,250 crores.

After the deal, Vodafone Plc now holds only 3.1 per cent of Indus Towers, down from their previous 21.5 per cent stake. While, Bharti Airtel revealed its acquisition of 28.95 million shares, raising its ownership in Indus Towers to almost 49 percent.

Vodafone Plc stated that the raised amount from the placement was Rs 15,300 crore (€1.7 billion), which will be mainly used to pay off Vodafone's current lenders for €1.8 billion in outstanding bank loans backed by Vodafone's assets in India.