Vodafone Group: Vodafone Sells $1.8 Billion Stake in Indus Towers | Mumbai News

MUMBAI: Vodafone Group has sold a bigger-than-planned 18% stake in India’s Indus Towers, raising $1.8 billion (over Rs 15,000 crore) that will serve to reduce its debt, the British telecom group said on Wednesday.
Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom company, said it bought about 1% of Indus shares in the transaction, bringing its stake in the operator to around 49%.
Vodafone, which owned 21.5% of Indus before the sale, had initially planned to sell a 10% stake but strong investor demand made it nearly double the sale size, according to a banking source familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity because the person was not authorised to speak to the media.
Vodafone said it sold 48.5 crore Indus shares at a price of Rs 310-341 per share, raising Rs 15,300 crore, or 1.7 billion euros, in gross proceeds that it will use to repay debt. The group said it had bank borrowings of 1.8 billion euros against its Indian assets, which also include a stake in Vodafone Idea — the country’s debt-saddled third-largest telecom operator by subscribers. Reuters

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