Vodafone Plc could sell close to a 10 per cent stake in Indus Towers through block deals on Wednesday in a transaction that could be worth $1.1 billion.

The UK-based telecom operator holds around 21.5 per cent in the tower firm.

Vodafone has offered close to 26.8 crore shares in a range of ₹310-341 per share, a discount of almost 10 per cent to the closing price of Indus Towers on Tuesday.

Shares of the company finished at ₹343.90, a gain of 0.91 per cent over the last close.

The sum raised will be ₹8,308 crore at the lower end of the price band and ₹9,139 crore at the upper end. The telco will have a lock-in period of 90 days for any additional divestment.

Analysts are divided on whether the proceeds will be used to trim debt or infused into Vodafone Idea.

At the current market prices, the entire stake of Vodafone in Indus Towers is valued at $2.3 billion. Recent reports had said Vodafone is looking to sell its entire stake.

A note from JP Morgan said Vodafone had pledged its 21 per cent stake in Indus Towers to take a $1.4 billion loan in 2019 to participate in Vodafone Idea’s rights issue. This was agreed upon in a security package during the merger of erstwhile Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers in 2018.

“Hence, we believe if this share sale goes through then the proceeds of $2.3 billion would be first used to repay Vodafone Plc’s lenders (revised loan value of $1.8 billion) and the remaining $0.5 billion (₹4,200 crore) could be used to partly clear Vodafone Idea’s past dues of ₹5,400 crore.

According to its analysts, if the stake sale goes through, Indus Towers could see accelerated repayment of dues either from Vodafone Idea or through an equity infusion into the joint venture.

“This could drive a special dividend of ₹15 per share in 2024-25 given Indus Towers hasn’t paid dividends over the last two years due to elevated capex and receivable issues from Vodafone Idea,’’ the brokerage added.