Vodafone Idea shares jump nearly 8% a day after raising Rs 18,000 crore in FPO

Shares of Vodafone Idea Ltd on Tuesday climbed nearly 8 per cent, a day after the telecom operator raised Rs 18,000 crore in India's largest ever follow-on offering (FPO).

The stock jumped 7.83 per cent to Rs 13.98 on the BSE.

At the NSE, it climbed 7.75 per cent to Rs 13.90 apiece.

At the close of the offering on Monday, as many as 8,011.29 crore shares were sought, 6.99 times of the issue size.

Together with Rs 5,400 crore collected from anchor investors by selling 490 crore shares prior to the market share, it raised the targeted Rs 18,000 crore.

The FPO is the largest ever. Prior to this, the largest FPO in the Indian market was a Rs 15,000 crore share sale by YES Bank in 2020.

The fundraise would give the ailing telco the firepower to improve its positioning in the Indian telecom market, where it currently trails larger rivals such as Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, by a wide margin.

The funds will also help Vodafone Idea shore up finances for the much-delayed 5G roll-out and strengthening 4G services, and payment of vendor dues.

Vodafone Idea's (VIL) board has fixed the FPO offer price at Rs 11 per equity share, according to a regulatory filing.