UPDATE Vodafone Group (NASDAQ: VOD) sold an 18 percent stake in India tower company, Indus Towers, for $1.8 billion, MobileWorldLive reported. The company says the cash proceeds will be used to pay down debt secured against Vodafone’s stakes in India, both in Indus Towers and mobile network operator, Vodafone Idea.
Talk of Vodafone selling its Indus Towers stake first surfaced earlier this week, Inside Towers reported. While the reports suggested the company was considering unloading all of its holdings in Indus Towers, Vodafone retains a 3.1 percent stake in the towerco after this transaction.
Vodafone noted proceeds from the sale of the 484.7 million shares to equity investors would “substantially repay” debts of $1.9 billion secured against its assets in India.
In a statement, Indus Towers’ largest shareholder Bharti Airtel announced it had bought almost 27 million additional shares in Indus Towers to take its stake to close to 49 percent.
Reuters reported that Vodafone had originally planned to sell only a 10 percent stake of its Indus Towers’ holdings but upped that proportion due to strong demand from investors.
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