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The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s (ADIA) growing interest in the Indian market has found the UAE sovereign wealth fund on a shortlist to buy the government’s stake in telecom giant Vodafone Idea (VI).
ADIA, along with the Qatar Investment Authority, Singapore’s Temasek, are some of the sovereign funds, which have been sounded out, according to a report by Indian daily, Financial Express. The report adds that the efforts are at an initial stage.
The Indian government threw a lifeline to the beleaguered VI, becoming its largest shareholder with a 32.19% stake in 2023 following a debt-to-equity conversion option.
That stake reduced to about 23% in wake of April’s follow-on public offer (FPO) by VI, which raised about 180 billion Indian rupees ($2.14 billion) at the time.
VI, a partnership between the Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group, also benefited from a further infusion of INR 20.75 billion from the Aditya Birla Group following the FPO.
The telecom service provider has said the FPO will help launch its 5G services across India and will account for nearly 40% of its revenue within the next 24 to 30 months.
ADIA’s name on the shortlist of investors comes following a flurry of investments by the sovereign fund in India in recent weeks, including a stake in retail giant FirstCry, investments in the security firm SIS, and its name added to a Blackstone consortium to invest in Indian food brand Haldiram’s.
(Writing by Bindu Rai, editing by Seban Scaria)
