London : British telecom major Vodafone plans to invest 1 billion euro or about Rs 8,000 crore in the proposed joint venture with Idea Cellular which is expected to be in place this month, according to its annual report.
The British telecom operator will look at monetising its stake in Indus Towers if it requires to make additional investment in India in case Aditya Birla group decides to put in additional fund in the proposed merged entity, Vodafone Idea.
“Idea’s equity raise of 0.8 billion euro in January 2018, which Vodafone Group will match at the time the merger closes; combined with other adjustments, we currently estimate a net capital injection into India of up to 1 billion euro at closing in June 2018,” Vodafone Chief Financial Officer Nick read said in annual report.
The merger of Vodafone with Idea is in last leg of government approval in which the the British firm is expected to have not more than 47.5 per cent stake. The merged entity will be largest telecom operator in India with subscriber base of around 430 million. “The company’s financial leverage is currently high on a pro-forma basis. In the event that in the future the joint venture partners decide to put in additional funding, the Group would draw upon the value of its stake in Indus Towers,” it said.
The company has 42 per cent stake in India’s largest mobile tower firm Indus Towers. Indus Towers paid dividends of 138 million euro to the Vodafone Group during 2017-18.
