Vodafone sells $1.8 bn stake in Indus Towers

Vodafone Group has sold a bigger-than-planned 18% stake in India’s Indus Towers, raising $1.8 billion (over £1.5 bn) that will serve to reduce its debt, the British telecom group said.
Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom company, said it bought about 1% of Indus shares in the transaction, bringing its stake in the operator to around 49%.
Vodafone, which owned 21.5% of Indus before the sale, had initially planned to sell a 10% stake but strong investor demand made it nearly double the sale size, according to a banking source familiar with the matter.
Vodafone said it sold 485 million Indus shares at a price of Rs 310-341 per share, raising £1.53 bn, or 1.7 billion euros, in gross proceeds that it will use to repay debt. The group said it had bank borrowings of 1.8 billion euros against its Indian assets, which also include a stake in Vodafone Idea – India's debt-saddled third-largest telecom operator by subscribers.