Private equity firm Providence Equity Partners on Tuesday made a complete exit from Idea Cellular, the flagship telecom company owned by the Aditya Birla Group. The US-based PE firm through its unit P5 Asia Investments Mauritius arm sold its remaining 3.3% holding in the telecom player through block deals on Bombay Stock Exchange and raised R1,288 crore. With this sale the PE firm has made a complete exit from the telecom operator which has agreed to merge its operations with the second largest player Vodafone India.
Providence sold 12 crore of shares or 3.3% of equity of Idea Cellular at an average R107.32 apiece, which is at 6.5% discount to Monday’s closing price. On Monday the stock had lost 4.2% of value after media reports suggesting the impending block deal in the stock.
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Of the 12 crore shares, Goldman Sachs India Fund bought 2.25 crore shares at an average price of R107.1 apiece, amounting to R241.51 crore. According to a Bloomberg report, Citigroup was the sole book runner for the sale.
The stock has been on a smart rally after the merger talks initiated last month and has rallied over 70% since then. The PE firm had picked up 15% in 2006 through its investment arm P5 Asia Investment (Mauritius) for around R1,800 cr and has been trimming its holding constantly over the years.
On June 3, 2016, P5 Asia Investments had sold another 12.5 crore shares of Idea Cellular at an average price of R110.65 per share. Of which 6.7 crore shares were bought by Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore).