Telecom major Vodafone Idea to open on Wednesday Rs 25,000 cr rights issue

Telecom major Vodafone Idea opens on Wednesday an issue of up to 2,000 crore fully paid up equity shares (face value Rs 10 each) at a price of Rs 12.50 per share aggregating up to Rs 25,000 crore by way of rights issue to the eligible equity shareholders. The rights entitlement is determined as 87 equity shares for 38 equity shares held by eligible equity shareholders. The last date for request of split application forms is April 17. The rights issue will close on April 24, 2019.

Promoter shareholders Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group have confirmed their participation of up to Rs 11,000 crore and up to Rs 7,250 crore respectively in the rights issue. In case the rights issue is undersubscribed, promoter group shareholders reserve the right to subscribe to part or the whole amount of the unsubscribed portion. "Our top priority is to integrate quickly to improve customer experience and profitability," said Vodafone Idea's CEO Balesh Sharma.

"We believe that the expanding coverage and increasing capacity will enable us to offer a superior network experience to our customers, enhance our ability to add more broadband customers and improve profitability by reducing costs and delivering synergies," he said in a statement. On February 6, the company reported a loss of Rs 5,004 crore for the quarter ended December 2018. The gross debt stood at Rs 1.23 lakh crore, including deferred spectrum payment obligations due to the government of Rs 91,480 crore. Cash and cash equivalents totalled Rs 8,900 crore, resulting in net debt of Rs 1.14 lakh crore.

The financials of telecom majors have been adversely hurt after the entry of Reliance Jio and falling tariffs. Sharma said the company is moving faster than initially estimated on integration and is on track to deliver its our synergy targets. "We believe that the proceeds from the rights issue coupled with the monetisation of our stake in Indus Towers Limited will allow us to make the required investments in the business to achieve our strategic goals," he said. 

(With inputs from agencies.)