Vodafone to exit Indus Towers, repay its debt

Remaining 3% stake to be sold through an accelerated book build offering

- Nikita Prasad & Gulveen Aulakh

Vodafone Group Plc will sell its remaining 3% stake in telecom infrastructure developer Indus Towers. The UK firm said on Wednesday that its remaining 79.2 million shares in Indus Towers will be sold through an accelerated book build offering.

The European telecommunications major is selling the shares with most of the proceeds to be used to repay debt of about $101 million related to its Indian assets. At Wednesday's closing price of ₹353.60 per share on BSE, the value of the shares was $331.5 million or ₹2,800 crore.

As part of chief executive officer Margherita Della Valle's efforts to cut exposure to underperforming markets, Vodafone sold an 18% stake in Indus Towers in June raising ₹15,300 crore or $1.82 billion.