Vodafone Idea FPO: GQG, Fidelity And Redwheel Funds Top Investors

Vodafone Idea Ltd. has mopped up close to Rs 5,400 crore from anchor investors ahead of its follow on public offer. Marquee investors include GQG Partners, Fidelity Investments, Australian Super, UBS Fund Management, Redwheel Fund.

The telecom major allotted 490.9 crore shares at Rs 11 apiece to 74 anchor investors.

GQG Partners through its various funds got the highest allocation of nearly 25%. It's a U.S. based investment company, which is involved in active management of global and emerging markets equity portfolio for institutions, advisors, and individual worldwide.

GQG has invested nearly Rs 1,348 crore, Fidelity Rs 774 crore and Redwheel Funds has put in Rs 281 crore.

A total of 79.5 crore shares worth Rs 874.7 crore have been allocated to five domestic mutual funds. The release adds that domestic mutual funds have gotten 16.2% of the total allocation via 11 schemes.

The domestic mutual funds include HDFC funds, Motilal Oswal, Quant, Baroda BNP Paribas, 360 One.

It is noteworthy that anchor investors can offload half of their holdings after a 30 day lock-in period from the date of allotment, according to SEBI rules. The remaining stake can be sold after 90 days.

Vodafone Idea has approved a price band of Rs 10-11per share for its upcoming offer which will end on April 22.

The company plans to use the proceeds of the FPO towards launch of 5G services and further capex, its debt payments will be at least Rs 30,000 crore (this excludes the new debt it plans to take) from the next financial year, after the moratorium on AGR dues is lifted.

After the equity fundraise, Vodafone Idea is likely to witness an overall dilution of 26%, according to calculations by NDTV Profit.

However, Aditya Birla Group's stake is likely to remain the same at nearly 10%, as it will infuse Rs 2,075 crore at Rs 14.87 apiece. Total promoter holding is expected to come down nearly 10-38% following dilution in Vodafone Plc.'s stake. The Government's stake, which is the largest in the company, is likely to to come down from 33% to 24%.

The backing from the likes of GQG is a major shot in the arm for Vodafone Idea. The telecom operator has been plagued by financial losses and an eroding subscriber base as users switched to rivals, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. and Bharti Airtel Ltd. 

Shares of Vodafone Idea closed closed 1.9% lower at Rs 12.9 apiece on Tuesday, compared to loss of 0.56% in the benchmark Nifty50.