Idea Cellular Rises Over 3% Ahead Of Name Change To Vodafone Idea

Idea Cellular shares closed over 3 per cent higher on Tuesday, a day marked with its extraordinary general meeting (EGM) that is being held to deliberate over the modalities of its merger with Vodafone India. The Aditya Birla Group's telecom company will decide on change of the merged entity's name to Vodafone Idea, and will also take a call on fund-raising of Rs 15,000 crore for the expansion plan after its merger with Vodafone India.

Idea Cellular shares rose 3 per cent to close at Rs 57.90 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs 56, and swung between Rs 58.20 and Rs 55.20 in the intraday trading on the bourse.

On the NSE, Idea Cellular shares jumped to a high of Rs 58.35 on Tuesday before closing 3 per cent higher at Rs 57.70. On May 14, Idea shares had hit their 52-week low of Rs 50.10 on the NSE.

"Approval of the Members is being sought by way of special resolution, authorising the Board to issue Non-Convertible Securities, including but not limited to NCDs, up to an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 15,000 crores on a private placement basis," the company announced in a stock market filing on June 1.

In terms of one 'implementation agreement' dated March 20, 2017, it was proposed to change the name of the merged entity to include the names of Vodafone and Idea, the company informed in a stock market filing.

For the merger, the companies first approached the approval of Competition Commission of India (CCI). On July 24 last year, the fair trade regulator gave its approval to the merger of two telecom companies. In May 2017, markets regulator SEBI had sought clarification over the merger of two companies.

The joint enterprise of Vodafone and Idea Cellular, currently country's number two and number three telecom companies, respectively, would unseat Bharti Airtel to grab the top slot. Once the deal goes through, Vodafone will own a 45.1 per cent stake in the merged entity, while Idea Cellular will have 26 per cent.

On March 22, both the companies had announced Vodafone's chief operating officer Balesh Sharma will be appointed as the CEO of the merged entity.