In India, Vodafone Group operates via its partially owned telco Vodafone Idea
Vodafone Group announced that it has launched a placing of its remaining 79.2 million shares in Indian tower company Indus Towers Limited representing 3.0% of Indus’ outstanding share capital through an accelerated book build offering.
In a regulatory filing, the telco noted that the proceeds from the placing will be used firstly to repay its outstanding borrowings of $101 million to Vodafone’s existing lenders, secured against Vodafone’s Indian assets.
The shares are worth around $330 million.
Under the terms of the security arrangements entered into between Vodafone and Indus, Indus has a security over the residual proceeds from the placing to guarantee obligations from Indian carrier Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) to Indus under the master services agreements (MSAs).
In June, Vodafone Group had sold 484.7 million shares in Indus Towers, representing 18% of Indus’ share capital, through an accelerated book-build offering.
At that time, Vodafone stated that the placing raised a total of INR153 billion ($1.83 billion) in gross proceeds.
Prior to the June transaction, Vodafone Group owned 21.5% of Indus Towers via various group entities. In early 2022, Vodafone sold 7.1% of its holdings in the tower firm.
Indian telco Bharti Airtel is also a large shareholder in Indus Towers, which currently has nearly 220,000 towers across India.
Private equity company KKR and Canadian fund CPPIB were also investors in Indus, but sold their entire stakes in February this year.
Vodafone Idea, partially owned by Vodafone Group, previously concluded its $2.16 billion follow-on public offer (FPO) and also raised about $648.5 million from 74 anchor investors. Vodafone Idea had said it expects to use the equity and debt funding to deploy 5G technology across India within six to seven months of securing the funds; it was also seeking funds to bolster its 4G network and pay tower vendors.
Rival operators Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm have an extensive 4G coverage compared to Vodafone Idea. The two telcos have already completed their pan-India 5G networks.
