The fund raising would help the Idea Cellular to fight intense competition being witnessed by the telecom sector following the entry of Reliance Jio. Photo: Bloomberg
New Delhi: Idea Cellular Ltd on Wednesday said its capital raising committee has approved an issue price of Rs82.50 per share for sale of shares through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) to raise as much as Rs3,500 crore.
“The capital raising committee of the company at its meeting today approved the closure of the issue for the QIP,” Idea said in a regulatory filing. The committee “determined and approved the issue price of Rs82.50 per equity shares (including a premium of Rs72.50 per equity share) for issuance of 42.42 crore equity shares, aggregating to Rs3,500 crore, to the eligible qualified institutional buyers in the QIP,” the filing said.
The panel also approved and adopted the placement document in connection with the QIP. Birla TMT, Elaine Investments, Oriana Investments—the controlling shareholders of Idea Cellular—have recently invested Rs3,250 crore to strengthen the company’s balance sheet prior the planned merger with Vodafone India.
Following the QIP, their stake in India’s third-largest telecom operator will rise to 47.2% from 42.4% now. Last month, Idea had said that the proposed capital raising along with the sale of its standalone towers to American Tower Corp as well as sale of the firm’s 11.15% stake in Indus Towers Ltd will augment long-term capital resources. The fund raising would help the company to fight intense competition being witnessed by the telecom sector following the entry of Reliance Jio.
