Providence completes exit from India's Idea Cellular

Public market records show that P5 Asia Investments (Mauritius), a unit of Providence, sold 120 million shares at INR107.32 each, a discount to the stock’s closing price of INR114.25 the prior day. Buyers included Goldman Sachs, which purchased about 22.5 million shares.

Idea is part of the Aditya Birla Group and is also about 20% owned by Malaysian telecommunications conglomerate Axiata. Providence bought a 15% stake in the company for around INR18 billion in 2006 about a year before its IPO and has exited in several tranches, most recently selling a 3.5% stake for INR13.8 billion last June.

The stock price has spiked in recent weeks amid reports of a possible merger with Vodaphone’s India subsidiary. In January Vodaphone confirmed via a filing that talks are underway for an all-stock deal that would give the combined company a subscriber base of 390 million, making it the biggest telecom provider in the country. Currently Vodaphone and Idea are second and third largest, respectively.

Providence invests in the media, communication, information and education industries on a global basis, including several India companies. Its holdings in the country include a stake in cable TV operator Hathway Cable and Datacom, originally purchased in 2012 for INR3.58 billion and expanded to 17.2% in 2015, and a 50% interest in home shopping channel Star CJ Network India bought from Star Group in 2014.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Media
• Infrastructure
• Open market
• India
• Providence Equity Partners
• Exit
• TMT