Vodafone Idea to meet institutional investors in Singapore, Mumbai

The telecom operator is looking to raise Rs 45,000 crore through both debt and equity

Vodafone Idea (Vi) executives will be in a huddle with institutional investors in Singapore on Wednesday in their bid to raise funds for the cash-strapped firm. Similar meetings are lined up in Mumbai on Thursday and Friday, the company said in an exchange filing.

The company said no unpublished price sensitive information (UPSI) is proposed to be shared by it during the investor meetings, which will be both -- one-to-one and group.

Last month, Vi’s board had approved a Rs 45,000-crore fundraising plan, through both equity and debt. This included a Rs 20,000 crore equity-based fund raise from existing investors.

 

Vi’s CEO Akshaya Moondra has said a commitment by the promoters to put up Rs 2000 crore towards meeting payment obligations remains active.

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The company has missed several self-imposed deadlines to raise funds, with the latest being December 31, 2023. Any new funds raised from banks will be used for deployment of capital expenditure, and not to service existing dues, Moondra said last year.
 

At the end of third quarter of FY24 (October-December), Vi had an enormous total gross debt excluding lease liabilities of Rs 2.14 trillion.

This included deferred spectrum payment obligations of Rs 1.38 trillion. The telco also had an Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) liability of Rs 69,020 crore that is owed to the government.

In 2024, the company is staring at the repayment of Rs 5400 crore worth of debt.

It has been engaging with lenders for further debt fundraising as well as with other parties for equity or equity-linked fundraising, to make the required investments for network expansion, including for its anticipated 5G rollout.

Vi’s two main competitors, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, have already launched 5G services in 7,764 and more than 5,000 cities, respectively.

Vi had raised Rs 25,000 crore ($3 billion) in May 2019 through a rights issue, including Rs 17,920 crore ($2.2 billion) contributed by the promoter group. The promoter group had also invested a further Rs 4900 crore ($600 million) in 2022.

Currently, the government is Vodafone’s largest creditor, owning 33.4 percent equity stake post the conversion of the company’s interest dues worth Rs 16,000 crore. The interests had piled up as a result of its deferred adjusted gross revenue (AGR) and spectrum instalments.