INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
consider the board's plan to raise funds via nonconvertible securities of not more than Rs 15,000 crore, which may be used to pare debt,
with the merged entity looking to strengthen its balance sheet to take on rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.
Vodafone India and Idea
Cellular are in the final leg of getting regulatory approvals for merging their operations to create what will be the largest telecom firm
in the country, with an almost 42% customer market share and 37% revenue market share.
In the regulatory filing, the Kumar Mangalam
Companies consequent upon change of name, the old name Idea Cellular Limited as appearing in name clause of the Memorandum of Association of
the company and wherever appearing in the Articles of Association of the company and other documents and places be substituted with the new
Brand consultant Harish Bijoor said there is a little bit of both companies in this new name and it was a win-win for both sides
to non-convertible debentures (NCDs) secured or unsecured, in one or more series/tranches aggregating up to an amount not exceeding Rs
15,000 crore"
Idea Cellular has been steadily raising money in the past few months and according to analysts, the Idea-Vodafone merged
entity will need to continue to infuse more funds and pare combined debt, which stood at more than Rs 1,14,000 crore at March end.
The
telecom department is also shortly expected to raise a demand for about Rs 6,000 crore as one-time spectrum charges (OTSC) as a
pre-condition for clearing their mega merger.
Idea has already raised Rs 6,750 crore from promoters this year and through a private
placement of shares, while Vodafone is infusing Rs 7,390 crore
Besides, the two have sold their captive towers to American Tower Corp
months ago, with Balesh Sharma as chief executive officer of the new entity
Analysts believe that Sharma and his team will have to hit the ground running as both telcos have trailed Jio and current market leader
Bharti Airtel on rolling out 4G and Voice over LTE services.
