Providence selling stake in Idea Cellular for $190 million

MUMBAI (Reuters) - A subsidiary of Providence Equity Partners is selling its 3.3 percent stake in India's third-biggest mobile phone carrier Idea Cellular Ltd for at least $190 million, according to a deal term sheet seen by Reuters on Monday.

The Providence unit, P5 Asia Investments (Mauritius) Ltd, will sell about 120 million shares in the mobile carrier on Tuesday in a price range of 106.5 rupees ($1.60) to 114.55 rupees a share, the term sheet showed.

The lower end of the range is a 7 percent discount to Idea's closing price of 114.55 rupees on the National Stock Exchange on Monday and would value the 3.3 percent stake at nearly $192 million.

Idea, part of the Aditya Birla conglomerate and about 20-percent owned by Malaysia's Axiata, is in talks over a merger with Vodafone's Indian subsidiary, potentially creating the country's biggest phone carrier.

Idea shares have surged nearly 47 percent since the two sides confirmed merger talks on Jan. 30.

($1 = 66.7000 Indian rupees)

(Reporting Savio Shetty and S.Anuradha of IFR; writing by Devidutta Tripathy; editing by David Clarke)