INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KOLKATA: Vodafone Group Plc is likely to free up its pledged stake in Vodafone Idea by selling shares in the entity to be formed by the
Shares were pledged in favour of HSBC Corporate Trustee Com (UK), which is acting as a trustee for BNP Paribas, HSBC Bank Plc, ING Bank NV,
Stan-Chart Bank, BankAm-Merrill Telco is seeking to free up 44.39% in Voda Idea it pledged to raise funds Lynch and Morgan Stanley Senior
Vodafone Idea shares fell 2.44% to Rs 14 at the close on the BSE on Friday.
In its 2018 annual report, Vodafone Group said additional
funding in India would come from sale of its stake in Indus Towers
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Group, which own 42% each in Indus Towers, will hold 37.2% and 29.4%, respectively in the combined company.
ET
reported recently that Bharti Airtel and the Vodafone Group are in talks with a consortium led by private equity firm KKR to slash their
stakes to 13% or less in the merged company
However, the Vodafone Group is expected to eventually exit the tower company.
If the merged entity is valued at $13 billion, the planned
stake reduction could help Bharti Airtel raise about $3.2 billion (Rs 22,400 crore) and the Vodafone Group about $2.1billion.
Rajiv Sharma,
co-head of research at SBICap Securities, said Vodafone may not exit the tower company immediately and the UK company is likely to wait to
get more bang for the buck when the outlook for telecom in India improves, pricing power returns and the loss-making Vodafone Idea catches
up with Reliance Jio Infocomm and Airtel on 4G coverage and recovers revenue market share
