Vodafone Idea shares rally 6% amid report on potential investors

Shares of Vodafone Idea Ltd climbed 5 per cent in Friday's trade amid as the company chief executive Akshaya Moondra reportedly informed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that the telecom operator has received term sheets from several potential investors. Moondra said one of the potential investors would be seeking a meeting with the authorities to get assurances on continuing government support for the cash-strapped operator, a report by The Economic Times suggested.

To recall, Moondra had in the Vodafone Idea's recent earnings call noted that his company was in the process of making funding arrangements. He noted that in the last two months, Vodafone Idea's discussions with multiple groups of investors on both equity and equity-linked instruments progressed.

"It has gained a lot of momentum, and the telco has seen a very good progress in the last couple of months, particularly in the last 1 month where some of these discussions have started progressing to a level of due diligence or proposals being discussed with these investors. We are making good progress, and we expect to conclude these discussions in the coming quarter," Moondra had said on August 16.

The stock rose 6.03 per cent to hit a high of Rs 8.43 on BSE. The scrip is up 24 per cent in the last six months.

Vodafone Idea is reportedly aiming to raise funds to implement a Rs 65,000 crore capex plan over four years. "And once we are back to investment, as I mentioned, I don't see any reason why that will not help us to kind of grow our business and start participating in the industry grow," Moondra had said on August 16.

Moondra in the first quarter earnings call said Vodafone Idea's debt servicing burden will go down significantly from the next quarter.

"If you look at over the next 3 quarters following this quarter, our debt servicing is only Rs 27 billion as against our cash generation in the same period of about Rs 60 billion. So, once we are through with this quarter and we are able to manage our payments with the help of the support from promoters and also some non-operational cash inflows, which we are looking at, we will be able to then manage and start unwinding the vendor dues from the next quarter," it had said.

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