Shares of Idea Cellular fell after the company said it will consider raising funds. The stock slipped as much as 5.2 per cent to Rs 99.40

Analysts say there are concerns that the value of shares held by existing shareholders would be diluted due to fund-raising.Up to Monday's close, the stock had risen 41.1 per cent in the past 12 months.

Telecom operator Idea Cellular had yesterday said its board will meet on January 4 to consider a proposal for fund-raising via preferential allotment, rights issue or other routes.

“A meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on January 4, 2018...to consider a proposal for fund-raising through a preferential allotment, qualified institutional placement, rights issue or such other route as the board of directors may determine to be in the best interests of the company,” the company had said in a BSE filing yesterday.

It, however, did not provide further details of the proposed plan. The filing said that the company will make disclosures, if any, related to the outcome of the meeting as per the stipulated rules.

The merger between Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, India’s second and third largest mobile operators respectively, is expected to be completed this year. The two companies had, in 2017, announced they will combine the operations to create the country’s largest telecom operator worth over $23 billion with a 35 per cent market share.

The merger of Vodafone-Idea -- which is set to dislodge the numero uno player Bharti Airtel -- was imminent as the incumbent operators have been bruised by aggressive offers from newcomer Reliance Jio, which triggered a tariff war in the Indian telecom market.

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