Top fund houses among main bidders for Vodafone Idea issue

MUMBAI: Franklin Templeton, Eastspring Investments, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund and SBI Mutual Fund were among major financial institutions to bid for the Rs 25,000-crore Vodafone Idea rights issue, the largest by any company in India, which was subscribed 1.08 times, with the promoters infusing Rs 18,500 crore, bankers involved in the process said.

Aditya Birla group, one of the promoters, subscribed to rights worth Rs 7,500 crore while the other promoter, UK’s Vodafone Group, put in nearly Rs 11,000 crore, the bankers said. Non-promoters subscribed to shares worth nearly Rs 8,460 crore, contributing roughly Rs 27,000 crore worth of bids received for the issue. The loss-making operator needs funds to repay debt and ease financial pressure to effectively take on rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.