History of Indus Towers Limited
Indus Towers Limited was founded in November 2007 by Bharti Infratel, Vodafone Essar, and Idea Cellular, with the aim of consolidating their passive infrastructure assets across 16 telecom circles. The company was established to provide shared telecom infrastructure to operators on a non-discriminatory basis. Initially, Bharti Infratel and Vodafone Group each held a 42% stake, Vodafone Idea held 11.15%, and private equity firm Providence Equity held the remaining 4.85%.
In 2017, Bharti Infratel expressed interest in acquiring the 53% stake in Indus Towers owned by Vodacom Group and Vodafone Idea. However, Vodafone considered floating their stake and enlisted Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley to find buyers. On April 25, 2018, Bharti Airtel (parent company of Bharti Infratel), Vodafone Group, and Vodafone Idea announced a merger agreement. The deal involved Bharti Infratel exchanging 1,565 of its shares for each Indus Towers share, valuing Indus Towers at $10 billion. The merger aimed to create one of the world’s largest telecom tower infrastructure operators. Although initially planned for completion by October 2019, the merger faced delays, receiving final approval on November 19, 2020. Post-merger, Bharti Airtel held a 36.73% stake, Vodafone Group 28.12%, Providence Equity 3.1%, and public shares 35.2%.
On June 19, 2024, Vodafone Group Plc announced the sale of an 18% stake in Indus Towers for Rs 15,300 crore, reducing its holding from 21.05%. The proceeds were intended to clear a significant portion of Vodafone’s existing lender dues related to $1.8 billion of borrowings secured against its Indian assets. This sale marked a notable development in Indus Towers’ ongoing evolution as a leading telecom infrastructure provider.
Shareholding patterns of Indus Towers Ltd
Jun 2023 | Sep 2023 | Dec 2023 | Mar 2024 | Jun 2024 | |
Promoters + | 68.99% | 68.99% | 68.99% | 68.99% | 52.01% |
FIIs + | 23.94% | 21.41% | 20.71% | 16.40% | 23.15% |
DIIs + | 4.51% | 6.69% | 7.08% | 9.90% | 16.97% |
Public + | 2.53% | 2.90% | 3.18% | 4.68% | 7.82% |
Others + | 0.02% | 0.01% | 0.04% | 0.04% | 0.03% |
No. of Shareholders | 2,71,679 | 2,64,674 | 2,67,108 | 3,10,694 | 4,06,689 |
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