Vodafone plans to sell 10% of its stake in Indus Towers to raise as much as Rs 9,000 crore

UK telecom giant Vodafone Group Plc plans to sell a 10% stake in Indus Towers, a telecom tower company, in order to raise up to Rs 9,000 crore through block deals on Wednesday. As per the agreement, the shares are being sold at a 10 per cent discount from Tuesday's closing price of Rs 344 per share.

Shares are being offered at the rate of ₹ 310- 341 a share. The company's total market valuation was Rs 92,679 crore as on Tuesday.

Currently, Vodafone Group Plc holds a 21.5 per cent stake in Indus through different group entities. It will utilize the funds to settle its existing debts.

BofA Securities India, Morgan Stanley India Company, Jeffries India, and BNP Paribas Securities India are overseeing the sale in accordance with the transaction terms.

Besides Vodafone Plc, Bharti Airtel also has a 48 percent stake in Indus Towers, with 220,000 towers located throughout India.

Vodafone Group Plc has also diluted its stake in Vodafone Idea, a telecom company, following the Indian company's Rs 18,000 crore fundraising through a follow-on offer. After this announcement, Vodafone Plc's shares in Vodafone Idea decreased to 18 per cent. It has planned to use the proceeds for introducing its 5G telecom services in India.

Its net losses went from ₹29,301 crores last year to ₹31,238 crores in FY24, seeing a rise of 6.6.%. Vodafone Plc has decided to reduce further investments in India after incurring big losses, thus reducing its ownership in the tower company from 28%.