Mumbai: Ahead of its proposed merger with Vodafone India, Idea Cellular on Thursday announced a Rs 6,750-crore fund-raising plan that includes a preferential issue of Rs 3,250 crore to its promoters.
The preferential issue will result in the promoters' stake rising to 47.2 per cent from 42.4 per cent.
This decision was taken at a meeting of the board of directors on Thursday.
A statement from the country's third-largest telco said the company would issue around 32.66 crore shares at a price of Rs 99.50 per share on a preferential basis to the promoter group entities. These include Birla TMT Holdings Private Limited, Elaine Investments Pte Ltd (Singapore), Oriana Investments Pte Ltd (Singapore), Surya Kiran Investments Pte Ltd (Singapore). The aggregate capital infusion will be Rs 3,250 crore.
"The Aditya Birla group remains committed towards the telecom business. At a time the telecom industry is going through a challenging environment, this equity infusion by the group in Idea is another step towards reinforcing the group's commitment," Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Idea Cellular, said.
The preferential issue is subject to shareholders' nod and other regulatory approvals. Idea will hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of shareholders on January 30, 2018.
The Idea Cellular board has also constituted a committee to evaluate the potential routes for raising further capital up to Rs 3,500 crore.
According to the company, the proposed capital raising along with the recent announcement of its standalone tower sale to ATC and the potential monetisation of Idea's 11.15 per cent stake in Indus Towers will augment its long- term capital resources.
Under the terms of the Vodafone-Idea merger deal inked in March last year, the former will own 45.1 per cent of the combined company after transferring a stake of 4.9 per cent to the Aditya Birla group for about Rs 3,900 crore and the latter will hold 26 per cent.
The Idea Cellular stock rose nearly 2 per cent on the BSE to Rs 104.50. In terms of volume, 10.98 lakh shares of the company were traded on the BSE.
