Vodafone Idea a national asset: KM Birla
Aditya Birla Group (ABG) chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said Vodafone Idea (Vi) is a national asset, and the successful conclusion of its Rs 18,000 crore follow-on public offer (FPO), India’s largest, marks one such turning point for the telecom industry.
“Vi is not just a telecom company. It’s a national asset with 215 million users and about 8000 MHz spectrum. That so many marquee investors participated in this equity issuance is a testament to the government’s vision of a digital India,” Birla said in an official statement following Vi’s FPO listing on the NSE Thursday.
He added that the emphatic oversubscription of Vi’s FPO, with the overall book being subscribed 7 times and the institutional book being subscribed 19 times, demonstrates the tremendous potential of the India digital story and Vi’s role in it. “The robust engagement from both foreign and domestic investors is heartening. Notably, the full subscription of the retail portion is truly commendable, given the sheer scale of the offer.”
Vi’s FPO is expected to be followed by a Rs 25,000 crore debt issue, helping achieve the telco’s targeted Rs 45,000 crore fundraising drive aimed at regaining financial health and bolstering competition with bigger and profitable rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.
Vi shares were up 2.75% to Rs 13.45 on BSE morning trade Thursday.
Birla added that Vi’s latest fund raise has also seen an investment of over Rs. 2,000 crore from the Aditya Birla Group. “This continued commitment stems from our belief in the promise of
