Indus Towers

Indus Towers Limited was founded in November 2007 by Bharti Infratel, Vodafone Essar, and Idea Cellular, with the goal of merging their passive infrastructure assets across 16 telecom circles. It was incorporated with an objective to provide shared telecom infrastructure to telecom operators on a non-discriminatory basis. Bharti Infratel held a 42% stake in the company, with Vodafone Group Plc holding 42% and Vodafone Idea holding 11.15%. The remaining 4.85% stake was held by private equity firm Providence Equity.

Bharti Infratel merger

In 2017, reports suggested that Bharti Infratel was looking to acquire the 53% stake in Indus Towers, owned by Vodacom Group and Vodafone Idea. However, in July, the head of Vodafone stated that they were "actively considering" a float of their stake in Indus Towers. Vodafone went on to deliver a formal mandate to both Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley to finalize buyers.

Bharti Airtel (Bharti Infratel's parent company), Vodafone Group, and Vodafone Idea announced on 25 April 2018 that they had signed an agreement to merge Bharti Infratel with Indus Towers. Under the terms of the agreement, Bharti Infratel will transfer 1,565 of its own shares for each Indus Towers share valuing the latter at $10 billion. Other major shareholders in Indus Towers such as Idea Cellular and Providence Equity Partners would be provided an option to cash out. Prior to the merger, shareholding in Indus Towers was Bharti Infratel (42%), Vodafone Group (42%), Idea Cellular (11.15%) and Providence Equity Partners (4.85%).

The merger was originally planned to go through before October 2019. However, due to delays in approvals, it was postponed to December 2019 by when the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) was supposed to give its permission. Owing to further delays by the DoT and the National Company Law Tribunal the deadline was extended multiple times to 24 June 2020.

The DoT approved the merger on 21 February 2020. The merger received foreign direct investment approval and was due to be completed by 31 August. The merger was approved by Bharti Infratel's board on 1 September, and by Vodafone Group in October 2020. The merger was completed on 19 November 2020. Vodafone Idea received ₹3,760.1 crore (US$390 million) as cash compensation for its 11.15% stake. Post-merger, Bharti Airtel received a 36.73% stake in the merged entity and Vodafone Group held a 28.12% stake. The remaining shares are held by private equity firm Providence Equity Partners (3.1%) and public shares (35.2%). The merger made Indus Towers the second largest telecom tower infrastructure operator in the world.

Vodafone Group sells entire stake in Indus

On June 19, 2024, UK's Vodafone Group Plc said that it has sold an 18% stake. Out its 21.05% holding — in Indus Towers for Rs 15,300 crore. The stake sale proceeds will be used to clear bulk of the UK company's existing lender dues relating to $1.8 billion of borrowings secured against its Indian assets.

On 5 December, Vodafone Group Plc sold the remaining 3.05% stake, permanently exiting the company. The stake sale will be used to pay $101 million owed to Indian banks and the remaining money will be used to subscribe to preferred shares of Vodafone Idea which will be used to reduce outstanding debt with Indus Towers.