Vodafone seeks to sell Indus Towers stake for up to $1.1 bn

London: Vodafone Group Plc is looking to sell 9.94 per cent in India’s Indus Towers Ltd. in block trades, according to terms of the deal obtained by Bloomberg News, as the UK-based carrier continues to streamline its

portfolio.

It seeks to sell 268 million shares in an offering that could be between 83.1 billion rupees and 91.39 billion rupees ($1.1 billion), the terms showed. The transaction will be through a block deal.

Vodafone’s Chief Executive Officer Margherita Della Valle, who took the reigns last year, has sold off underperforming markets and worked to scale back a sprawling empire that at one point stretched from the US to Africa.

Vodafone owns about 21 per cent of the Indian tower company, which it formed as a venture with Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Idea Cellular in 2007. In 2017, Vodafone’s India operations and Idea announced their merger to create Vodafone Idea Ltd. amid brutal tariff wars in the local telecom market.

Bloomberg reported last week, citing people familiar with the plans, that Vodafone Group was seeking to sell its entire stake in India’s Indus Towers in block trades soon.

Vodafone is working with Bank of America Corp., BNP Paribas SA and Morgan Stanley for this sale, people familiar had told

Bloomberg.