NEW DELHI: Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla on Thursday said they remain committed to Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) as the debt-laden telecom company continues to see dwindling subscriber base and has been scouting for fresh funds to take on the likes of Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio.
“We remain very committed to Vodafone Idea and as we have said in the public domain, efforts are on to get outside investors,” Birla said while announcing the launch of his Group’s decorative paint business. He added that efforts are on to rope in external investors and they are making good progress on the same. Vodafone Idea on Thursday informed the stock exchanges that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the company will be held on Tuesday (27th February) to consider and evaluate proposals for raising funds in one or more tranches.
The funds would be raised by “way of a rights issue, further public offer, private placement including preferential allotment, qualified institutions placement or through any other permissible mode and/or combination. The fundraising could be through equity or debt instruments,” a BSE filing said. The capital raise could be by way of issue of equity shares or by way of any instruments including “securities convertible into equity shares, Global Depository Receipts, American Depository Receipts or bonds including foreign currency convertible bonds, convertible debentures, warrants, and/or non-convertible debentures including non-convertible debentures along with warrants, which may or may not be listed”.
The ailing telecom company saw its net loss narrow to Rs 6,986 crore for the December 2023 quarter, helped by Rs 755.5 crore one-time exceptional gain.