LONDON: Vodafone Group Plc announced that it has sold 484.7 million shares in Indus Towers Limited, representing 18.0% of Indus’ share capital through an accelerated book-build offering.

The Placing raised INR 153.0 billion (€1.7 billion) in gross proceeds which will be used to substantially repay Vodafone’s existing lenders in relation to the outstanding bank borrowings of €1.8 billion secured against Vodafone’s Indian assets.

Following the Placing, Vodafone holds 82.5 million shares in Indus, equivalent to a 3.1% shareholding.

Vodafone is a leading European and African telecoms company. We provide mobile and fixed services to over 330 million customers in 15 countries (excludes Italy which is held as a discontinued operation under Vodafone Group), partner with mobile networks in 45 more and have one of the world’s largest IoT platforms. In Africa, our financial technology businesses serve almost 79 million customers across seven countries – managing more transactions than any other provider.