Vodafone Idea FPO: Price band, lot size and other key details about ₹18,000-crore issue

Vodafone Idea has initiated the process for fundraising with the launch of its follow-on public offering (FPO), which is going to open for subscription from Thursday, April 18.

The debt-burdened telecom operator on Monday, April 15, announced the price band and floor price for its ₹18,000-core FPO, which is the largest so far in India.

Here are 5 things to know about the FPO:

Vodafone Idea (Vi) FPO date

The Vodafone Idea (Vi) FPO is set to open for subscription on April 18 and conclude on April 22. The share allotment for the FPO is expected to be confirmed on April 23, 2024, with the tentative listing of Vi FPO shares on both the BSE and NSE scheduled as April 25.

Vodafone Idea FPO price band and lot size

The Vi FPO price band has been set at ₹10-11 per share. The FPO lot size is 1,298 equity shares. The upper limit of the price band, which is ₹11 per share, offers a discount compared to recent preferential issue prices and the company’s previous closing price.

Retail investors are required to invest a minimum of ₹14,278, with bidding for a single lot size and in multiples thereof. The minimum lot size for small high net worth individuals (sHNIs) is 15 lots (19,470 shares), amounting to an investment of ₹2,14,170, and for bHNI the minimum investment is ₹10,13,738, for an application of 71 lots (92,158 shares).

A board meeting is scheduled for April 16 to decide on share allocations to anchor investors, the company informed the stock exchanges in a filing.

Vodafone Idea plans investor engagement and analyst roadshows across India starting from April 15.

Vi FPO objective

Vodafone Idea intends to allocate the net proceeds of the FPO towards buying of equipment to expand the network infrastructure. This includes the setting up of new 4G sites, enhancing the capacity of existing 4G sites, and the deployment of new 5G sites. Additionally, a portion of the funds will be used for settling certain deferred payments for spectrum to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) along with the associated Goods and Services Tax (GST). A part of the funds will also be used to meet general corporate expenses.

Vi FPO registrar

The book running lead managers for the Vi FPO are Axis Capital Limited, Jefferies India Private Limited and SBI Capital Markets Limited.

Link Intime India Private Ltd has been appointed as the registrar for the FPO.

Vodafone Idea’s ₹20,000 crore fund raise plan

The company’s board on February 27 approved a proposal for raising ₹20,000 crore via allocation of equity shares. The company recently raised over ₹2,000 crore through preferential allotment route.

The shares were issued to promoter entity Oriana Investments Pte Ltd, an Aditya Birla Group firm at ₹14.87 apiece, up 40% from the FPO floor price.

The telecom operator has a debt burden of ₹2.1 lakh crore, to be paid to the government.

The promoters of the company include Kumar Mangalam Birla, Hindalco Industries Limited, Grasim Industries Limited, Birla TMT Holdings Private Limited, Vodafone International Holdings B.V., Al-Amin Investments Limited, Asian Telecommunication Investments (Mauritius) Limited, CCII (Mauritius) Inc., Euro Pacific Securities Ltd, Vodafone Telecommunications (India) Limited, Mobilvest, Prime Metals Ltd, Trans Crystal Ltd, Omega Telecom Holdings Private Limited and Usha Martin Telematics Limited.

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