Vodafone UK yesterday announced that it is joining hands with another Telecom Giant Idea Cellular to form India’s Largest Telecom Carrier. The Merger would mean that the two companies will have a combined customer base of close to 400 Million Pan India. After the Merger, Kumar Mangalam Birla will be the Chairman and Vodafone India will be appointing a CFO.
WIth the Merger the combined market Share of both the Telecom giants adds upto 43% making it the largest telecom firm above Airtel. After the merger becoming effective, the entire business of Vodafone India Limited and Vodafone Mobile Services Limited will vest with Idea. Vodafone India shareholders will own 45.1% of Idea share after transferring a stake of 4.9% to some or all the existing promoters of Idea for INR 38.74 billion.
The promoters of Idea will hold 26% of Idea share and the balance 28.9% will be held by the public. The merger is subject to necessary approvals of shareholders and both Vodafone and Idea expect the merger to be completed by 2018.
