Vodafone Idea Shares Jump 8% On Fundraising Plans
Kumar Mangalam Birla says there are no plans to exit the telecom business and it will continue to look for new investors.
Shares of Vodafone Idea Ltd. jumped over 8% on Friday after the company said it plans to consider a fundraising proposal through multiple instruments in a board meeting next week.
The board will evaluate proposals for the capital raise on Feb. 27 in one or more tranches by way of a rights issue, further public offer, private placement, including preferential allotment, or qualified institutional placement, according to an exchange filing on Thursday.
Speaking at the launch of Grasim Industries Ltd.'s new paint business, Birla Opus, Aditya Birla Group Chairperson Kumar Mangalam Birla said there are no plans to exit the struggling telecom business and it will continue to look for new investors in Vodafone Idea.
Vodafone Idea lost 13.68 lakh wireless subscribers, as compared with a loss of 10.73 lakh subscribers in November, according to data by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India released Thursday.
Vodafone Idea's stock rose as much as 8.28%, the most since Feb. 7, to Rs 17.65 apiece in trade so far on the NSE. It was trading 7.89% higher at Rs 17.60 per share, compared to a 0.12% advance in the benchmark Nifty 50 at 9:31 a.m.
The share price has risen 158.21% in the past 12 months. The total traded volume so far in the day stood at 13 times its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 66.30.
Fifteen out of the 17 analysts tracking the company have a 'sell' rating on the stock and two recommend a 'hold,' according to Bloomberg data. The average of 12-month analyst price targets implies a potential downside of 58.6%.
