Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) advises Vodafone Idea Limited (the “Company”) in its further public offering of 16,363,636,363 equity shares aggregating to INR 18,000 crore (the “Offer”). The Offer was made under the fast-track route in terms of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018 (“SEBI ICDR Regulations”). The Company is the third largest telecommunications service provider in India based on subscriber base (Source: TRAI Subscription Report). According to the GSMA Intelligence Database, it is the sixth largest cellular operator globally in terms of number of subscribers in a single country of operations.
Key highlights of the transaction:
• Largest successful further public offering and the third largest public offering of equity shares in India.
• First further public offering by a company engaged in the telecommunication sector. • One of the fastest public offerings from start to end, having been completed only in 54 days from the date of kick-off meeting.
• Tremendous level of participation from the investors, resulting in the Offer being oversubscribed over 6x times despite the large size; receipt of applications for equity shares for an amount aggregating to over INR 93,663 crores. The qualified institutional buyers also demonstrated a robust response as the category was oversubscribed over 19x times.
• Addition of nine lakh shareholders to the shareholder base of the Company. • Only company to have raised funds by way of an initial public offer, a qualified institutions placement, a rights issue as well as a further public offer.
Axis Capital Limited, Jefferies India Private Limited and SBI Capital Markets Limited acted as book running lead managers to the Offer.
The Capital Markets team of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised on the matter. The transaction team was led by Yash Ashar, Partner & Head Capital Markets; Abhinav Kumar, Partner & Regional Head Markets Practice (Western Region); with support from Akshay Singh Ralhi, Principal Associate; Jhalak Shah, Senior Associate; Sanjana Ravjiani, Senior Associate; Harshvardhan Lahiri, Associate; Adwait Deshmukh, Associate; Raksha Raina, Associate; Sangram Kokate, Associate; Tanishq Mohta, Associate; Zeb Burk, Associate; and Shivendra Mehndiratta, Associate.
The transaction team also received guidance from our Managing Partner, Cyril Shroff.
Other parties and advisors to the transaction included Axis Capital Limited, acted as book running lead manager to the issue; Jefferies India Private Limited, acted as book running lead manager to the issue; SBI Capital Markets Limited, acted as book running lead manager to the issue; Sidley Austin LLP, acted as International legal counsel for book running lead managers; S&R Associates, acted as Indian legal counsel for Vodafone Group; and Link Intime India Private Limited, acted as registrar.
The transaction was signed on 29th February, 2024 and closed on 25th April 2024. ____________________________________________
About Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (cam) is India’s leading law firm with a global reputation of being trusted advisers to its clients. The Firm advises a large and diverse set of clients, including domestic and foreign commercial enterprises, financial institutions, private equity and venture capital funds, start-ups, government, and regulatory bodies. The Firm generalists,specialists and senior ex-regulators expertly guide clients across a spectrum of transactions,sectors and regulations. The Firm is one of the largest full-service law firm in India and offices in key business centers at Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, GIFT City, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.
The Firm received “National Law Firm of the Year: India” at the IFLR Asia-Pacific Awards for the second consecutive years in 2023 and 2022 and “Innovation in Advancing Markets” award at the FT Innovative Lawyers Asia Pacific 2022 Awards. The Firm had won “India Deal Firm of the Year” at the ALB India Awards and “Firm of the Year” at the IFLR1000 India Awards in 2022.
