Vodafone Idea board approves fundraising of ₹20,000 crore; promoters to take part in equity raise

livemint.com:

Vodafone Idea board on Tuesday, February 27, approved a fundraise plan of up to ₹20,000 crore through a combination of equity and equity-linked instruments, said the telecom, adding that promoters will also participate in the proposed equity raise. With this fundraising plan, the company plans to raise around ₹45,000 crore through a mix of equity and debt, said Vodafone Idea in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges. The board has also authorised the management to appoint bankers and counsels to execute the fund raise.

The company will call for a meeting of its shareholders on April 2, 2024, and post-shareholders’ approval it expects to complete the equity fund raise in the coming quarter. Also Read: Vodafone Idea launches pilot with Mavenir for commercial Open RAN deployment The promoters will also participate in the proposed equity raise, as committed earlier. "In addition, the company remains actively engaged with its lenders for tying up the debt funding, which will follow the equity fund raise.

Through a combination of equity and debt, the company plans to raise around ₹45,000 crores," added Vodafone Idea in its exchange filing. Voda Idea said its bank debt currently stands at less than ₹4,500 crore. “The equity and debt fund raising will enable the company to make investments towards significant expansion of 4G coverage, 5G network rollout and capacity expansion," said the company.

The crisis-ridden telecom has been fighting a long battle for survival, with a debt of ₹2.1 lakh crore and has been reporting quarterly losses, amid a massive subscriber churn. On Tuesday, shares of Vodafone Idea settled 5.93 per cent lower at ₹15.87 apiece on the BSE. The government holding in Vodafine Idea Ltd (VIL) is currently