The Hindu Business Line : VSNL gains Rs 500 cr from Intelsat stake sale

VIDESH Sanchar Nigam Ltd has made around Rs 500 crore in capital gains from the sale of its 5.42 per cent shareholding in Intelsat, an international satellite company that was recently sold to a consortium of funds.

VSNL on Friday sent a notice to the stock exchanges to say that it has received $169 million (around Rs 750 crore) from the sale of its entire holding in Intelsat. The company's acquisition cost of these 9 million shares had been Rs 254 crore.

VSNL was a founder member of Intelsat, the consortium formed in 1964. When Intelsat was privatised, VSNL was allocated a 5.42 per cent stake in the company. A few months ago, a consortium of private funds agreed to buy the ailing Intelsat.

A few months ago, the company received $26 million, or Rs 114 crore, from the sale proceeds of New Skies Satellite, another satellite communications company of which it was a shareholder.

This constituted the first instalment (and 95 per cent) of the proceeds from that sale. The rest is expected in a few months' time.

The proceeds from these sales will keep VSNL's reserves at more or less the same levels, even after its acquisition of Tyco's international global communications network for around Rs 600 crore in cash, funded by internal accruals.

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