Vodafone may sell 5% stake in Indus Towers to Bharti Airtel for 3,300 crore

British telecom giant Vodafone is in discussions to sell around five per cent stake in Indus Towers to Bharti Airtel, according to industry sources. The stake is estimated to be valued at over Rs 3,300 crore, and the proceeds will be pumped into the Indian entity Vodafone Idea, PTI reported.

Though Vodafone did not confirm the stake sale to Airtel, the British firm confirmed on Wednesday that it is in talks to sell an initial 4.7 per cent stake and is looking to eventually sell its entire 28.1 per cent stake in Indus Towers, India’s largest cell tower firm.

Bharti Airtel’s parent Bharti Enterprises is Indus’ largest shareholder, according to Refinitiv data.

Vodafone has launched an initial sale of 63.6 million Indus shares and said it was in talks with various parties regarding the sale of its remaining shares.

The company’s total stake of 757.8 million shares was worth roughly Rs 19,000 crore ($2.56 billion) as of Friday, according to Reuters calculations. 

The development comes after a challenging period for Vodafone in India, where its local arm, Vodafone Idea, has faced intense competition and lost millions of wireless subscribers to Reliance’s Jio and Bharti Airtel.

Vodafone is also in talks with “several interested parties” to potentially sell its remaining shareholding in Indus, the company said.

Vodafone Idea’s troubles have been compounded by huge dues owed to the Indian government, which is expected to own a 35.8 per cent stake in the venture through a recent deal.

Indus Towers’ portfolio of over 184,748 telecom towers makes it one of the largest tower infrastructure providers in the country with presence in all 22 telecom circles. Indus Towers caters to all wireless telecommunication service providers in India.