Vodafone Idea Shareholders Approve Rs 20,000-Crore Fundraising Plan; Check Details

Vodafone Idea’s (Vi) shareholders on Wednesday approved the company’s plan to raise Rs 20,000 crore in fundraising through a combination of equity and equity-linked instruments. Following this, its shares gained over 2 per cent.

The fundraising could be by way of issue of equity shares or by way of any instruments including securities convertible into equity shares, Global Depository Receipts, American Depository Receipts or bonds including foreign currency convertible bonds, convertible debentures, warrants, etc.

Following the capital raise report, Vodafone Idea’s shares on Wednesday rose Rs 0.27, or 2.01 per cent, to Rs 13.71 apiece on the BSE during the day.

“This will present a good opportunity for the vendors, including Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung, to get contracts at a time when fresh deals with Airtel and Jio will be limited,” Moneycontrol quoted Ashwinder Sethi, principal at Analysys Mason, as saying.

Vodafone Idea conducted an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) with shareholders on April 2 to seek approval for the proposed fundraising.

The promoters also participated in the proposed equity raise, as committed earlier, according to a BSE filing on April 3.

“The shareholders of the company holding shares as on the ‘cut-off’ date i.e. Tuesday, March 26, 2024, were entitled to vote on the proposed resolution as set out in item No. 1 in the Notive of the EGM of company,” it said.

There were a total of 36,85,187 shareholders on the record date. Out of the total 50,11,98,20,375 shares held, a total of 42,048,175,916 were in favour, according to the filing.

The company said the facility provided for remote e-voting commenced on Friday, March 29, 2024, at 9 am and ended on Monday April 1, 2024, at 5 pm.

During the third quarter ended December 2023, Vodafone Idea (VIL) reported narrowing of losses to Rs 6,986 crore. The losses had stood at Rs 7,990 crore a year ago.

During the quarter under review, the revenue from operations for the ailing telco came in at Rs 10,673.1 crore, nearly flat over the corresponding period previous year.