Vodafone Group plans to use stock market block agreements to sell its whole $2.3 billion share in Indus Towers in order to pay off debt. Vodafone owns 21.5% of Indus, a mobile tower operator, through a number of group companies. The stake sale's exact amount is still up for debate, but it may be less than 21.5% depending on demand.
Shares of Vodafone Idea extended gains, rising as much as 4.8% after the report, while Indus Towers pared gains and closed up 0.3%. Vodafone has hired Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas to manage the stake sale in stock markets.
Vodafone in 2022 announced it would sell its entire 28% stake, but has managed to sell only a small portion so far. The sources said the talks with rival telecom firms for a stake sale had not materialised.
Vodafone plans to repay part of its $42.17 billion net debt using proceeds from the Indus stake sale.
