Shares of Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) and Bharti Infratel soared on completion of the Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers merger deal.
Debt-ridden VIL received about ₹3,760 crore cash for its 11.15% holding in Indus. The scrip of cash-strapped VIL jumped more than 8% to close at Rs 10.04 on the BSE while that of Bharti Infratel soared over 18 per cent to Rs 221.70.
With this merger, Bharti Airtel Group will hold 36.7 per cent stake in the merged entity while the holding of Vodafone Group will be about 28.12 per cent.
The latest move to sell its stake in Indus comes as a relief to Vodafone Idea, which is facing more than ₹58,000 crore demand in overall statutory dues after the apex court ordered non-telecom revenues to be added in computing statutory liabilities.
It must be mentioned here that Bharti Infratel board approved the long-pending merger with Indus Towers in order to create the world’s largest mobile tower operator outside China. The deal was completed on Thursday, said Bharti Infratel.