The capital raising committee of Vodafone Idea Ltd has approved the basis of allotment of equity shares for its Rs 25,000-crore rights issue that closed last month. The new shares are expected to be listed on the BSE and NSE around May 10.
The rights issue was the largest in the country with 2,000 crore fully paid-up equity shares with a face value of Rs 10 each on offer at Rs 12.50 per share. There were some concerns about whether the issue would be fully subscribed but, in the end, it managed to squeak through.
“The issue was subscribed 1.8 times and the public participation was approximately 1.2x,” the company said in a press release.
There were some apprehensions that the rights issue might struggle, especially after existing shareholders such as Axiata Investments of Malaysia – which had a pre-issue stake of 8.15 per cent – opted to renounce their entitlement.
The company claimed that a strong demand from public shareholders and the fact that the promoter group comprising Vodafone and the Aditya Birla group “applied for more than their aggregate rights entitlement in line with their earlier commitment ensured that the issue raised the desired sum pretty easily.
“The final allotment to the promoter/promoter group was Rs 17, 920 crore (Rs 90 crore over their aggregate rights entitlement). Post allotment, the total promoter/promoter group aggregate shareholding is 71.57 per cent versus 71.33 per cent as on the record date,” the release added.
Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea Ltd has announced a five-year multi-million-dollar IT outsourcing deal with tech giant IBM. “This engagement will also contribute to Vodafone Idea’s merger synergy objectives by reducing its IT related costs,” the telecom firm said in a statement.