Government to hold 33% stake in Vodafone Idea post equity conversion

The government will hold around 33% in Vodafone Idea, post-conversion of its accrued interest liability into equity, while the telco’s promoters, UK’s Vodafone Plc and India’s Aditya Birla Group, will collectively hold 50% in the company.

Vi’s management said the telco would repay a lump of its upcoming Rs 8,160 crore debt—payable in the next 12 months—out of cash margins released after the recent return of bank guarantees (BGs), while around Rs 6,000 crore would be cleared from internal accruals.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has computed the net present value of the accrued interest due to the four-year deferral of spectrum and adjusted gross revenue payments at Rs 16,133.1 crore. At present, UK’s Vodafone Plc and ABG own 47.61% and 27.38% in Vi respectively.

Both MD Ravinder Takkar and CFO Akshaya Moodra reiterated that Vi expects to close its long-pending Rs 10,000 crore fundraise from external investors shortly. They said the telco is in “active discussions with banks and investors for further debt/equity funding for investments and would make subsequent disclosures as appropriate”.