Vodafone Group Plc is exiting Indus Towers by selling its residual 3 per cent stake in the company. At the current market prices, the holding is valued at ₹2,841 crore.

The British telco said that proceeds from the sale would be used to clear its debt of $101 million, or about ₹856 crore.

“Vodafone Group Plc announces that it has launched a placing of its remaining 79.2 million shares in Indus Towers Ltd representing 3 per cent of Indus’ outstanding share capital through an accelerated book build offering,” Vodafone said in a regulatory filing.

The Indus Towers share closed 1.46 per cent higher at ₹358.75 on the BSE.

“The proceeds from the placing will be used firstly to repay Vodafone’s outstanding borrowings of $101 million to Vodafone’s existing lenders, secured against Vodafone’s Indian assets,” it said.

Vodafone added it had entered into security arrangements with Indus that gave the tower company a security over the residual proceeds from the placing of the share sale that will guarantee obligations from Vodafone Idea Ltd (Vi) to Indus under Master Services Agreements (MSAs).

MSAs are long -term contracts which set out the terms on which access is provided to the company’s towers.

At an analyst concall after its second quarter results, the top management of Indus Towers had indicated that Vi has dues with the company.

“For the last few quarters, we have been collecting a sum against the past overdue from a major customer. We have collected a total of more than ₹2,300 crore in the last 12 months. This has resulted in our provision for doubtful debt reducing to about ₹3,500 crore. We are also in constant discussions for clearance of the remaining overdue,’’ Indus Towers CFO Vikas Poddar said.

Vodafone said after the payment of $101 million, residual proceeds from the placing will be utilised to subscribe to an issue of new equity shares by Vi. Proceeds from such a capital raise would be used by Vi to pay the outstanding dues to Indus.

“Following the repayment of Vodafone’s outstanding borrowings, if any Indus shares remain, such Indus shares and any proceeds which are not used by Vodafone to subscribe to new shares in Vi would be available to Indus to guarantee Vi’s obligations under the MSAs’’, it disclosed.

In June, Vodafone had sold an 18 per cent stake — it held 21 per cent before the sale — in Indus Towers for ₹15,300 crore through open market deals.

With a 50 per cent stake, Bharti Airtel is the largest shareholder of Indus Towers. Vodafone’s stake is held by Omega Telecom Holdings Pvt Ltd and Usha Martin Telematics Ltd.