Vodafone Idea shares tank nearly 6 pc intra-day; bounce back to settle flat

Vodafone Idea shares tank nearly 6 pc intra-day; bounce back to settle flat

Shares of Vodafone Idea on Friday declined nearly 6 per cent in intra-day trade after the floor price of its follow-on public offer was fixed at a discount to the last closing price, but the stock bounced back to settle flat.

Struggling telecom operator Vodafone Idea on Friday said it plans to raise up to Rs 18,000 crore through share sale in the biggest follow-on public offer as it scrambles to mobilise resources to stay afloat.

Voda-Idea shares will be issued, under the FPO, in a price band of Rs 10-11 apiece against Friday's closing price of Rs 12.96 on the BSE.

The stock tanked 5.41 per cent to Rs 12.23 in intra-day on the BSE. However, later it recovered the early lost ground and climbed 2.55 per cent to Rs 13.26 during the fag-end of trade. The stock finally ended at Rs 12.96, marginally up by 0.23 per cent.

At the NSE, the stock ended flat at Rs 12.95 after falling 5.79 per cent to Rs 12.20 in intra-day.

The share sale will open on April 18 and close on April 22, Vodafone Idea, the country's third-largest telecom carrier, said in a stock exchange filing.

This will be the largest FPO after the previous best of Rs 15,000 crore share sale by Yes Bank in 2020.

VIL's blockbuster fundraising -- which comes close on the heels of a Rs 2,075 crore capital infusion by Aditya Birla group via a preferential share issue earlier this month -- would give the ailing telco the ammo to improve its positioning in the Indian telecom market, where it currently trails larger rivals like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel by a wide margin.

The funds would also help VIL shore up finances for the much-delayed 5G rollout, strengthening 4G services, and clearing vendor dues.

The higher end of the price band (Rs 11) is at a discount of about 26 per cent compared to the recently approved preferential issue price to the promoter entity at Rs 14.87 and a discount of over 15 per cent compared to the closing price of Rs 12.96 on Friday.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)