Vodafone to sell more shares in India's Indus Towers to raise up to $2 bln, term sheet shows (updated)

Indus Towers

19/06/2024 06:02

(Adds details from term sheet, background from paragraph 2)
    By M. Sriram
       MUMBAI, June 19 (Reuters) - UK's Vodafone Group  VOD.L 
plans to sell a stake of nearly 18% in India's Indus Towers
 INUS.NS  for up to $2 billion, more than the roughly 10% stake
it planned to sell earlier, according to a term sheet seen by
Reuters on Wednesday.
    The British telecommunications firm, which owns a 21.5%
stake in mobile-tower operator Indus, will use the proceeds to
repay debt, Reuters reported last week.
    Vodafone had in 2022 said it would sell its complete stake
in the Indian firm.
    In the latest stake sale, planned for Wednesday, the company
plans to sell shares in a price range of 310 rupees to 341
rupees.
    Shares of Indus Towers fell as much as 9.4%, before paring
losses to trade down 3.9% at 331 rupees.
    Over 615 million shares of Indus Towers changed hands across
hundreds of block deals on Wednesday, with around 713 million
shares traded overall, per National Stock Exchange of India
data.
    Indus, which claims to be one of the world's biggest tower
companies, also has India's second-biggest telecom firm, Bharti
Airtel  BRTI.NS , as a shareholder. 
    Bharti Airtel said on Wednesday it bought 27 million shares
or a roughly 1% stake in Indus, but did not share the price at
which they were bought.
    Private equity giant KKR and Canadian fund CPPIB were also
investors in Indus, but sold their entire stakes in February.
    Block deals, where investors sell shares in stock markets,
have become increasingly popular in India as the market has
surged to record highs.
    
    

 (Reporting by Sriram Mani in Mumbai and Nandan Mandayam in
bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
 ((Nandan.Mandayam@thomsonreuters.com; Mobile: +91 9591011727;))