Vodafone Share News (VOD)

(Sharecast News) - Vodafone Group announced the completion of the merger between Vodafone India and Idea Cellular on Friday, following clearance of the transaction by the relevant competition and regulatory authorities.The FTSE 100 telecoms conglomerate had initially announced the combination on 20 March last year.It said the combined entity would be renamed Vodafone Idea shortly, and would remain listed on the Indian stock exchanges while being jointly controlled by Vodafone and the Aditya Birla Group.The chairman of Vodafone Idea would be Kumar Mangalam Birla, with the board also appointing former Vodafone India chief operating officer Balesh Sharma as its chief executive officer."The merger creates India's leading telecoms operator, with nearly 408 million customers," Vodafone's board said in its statement.During the 12 months to 30 June, Vodafone India and Idea generated revenue of INR 585bn (€7.1bn) and EBITDA of INR 107bn.Vodafone Idea was expected to generate INR 140bn of run-rate cost and capex synergies, equivalent to a net present value of approximately INR700bn.As at 30 June, the combined cash balance of Vodafone Idea was INR 193bn, and its net debt was INR1.09trn, both after adjustments for the INR 39bn payment of spectrum liberalisation cost5 made to the DOT and INR 86bn of equity funding contributed by Vodafone Group, in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement.More than 80% of that net debt was owed to the Indian Government and was without covenants.On that basis, and adjusting for expected run-rate opex synergies of INR 84bn, Vodafone said the combined entity would be levered at 5.7x LTM EBITDA.Vodafone Idea would have the option to monetise Idea's 11.15% stake in Indus Towers upon completion of the merger of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers, expected before the end of the financial year ending 31 March next year.Based on the terms of the Bharti Infratel and Indus merger agreement, that would currently equate to a cash consideration of INR 51bn.Aditya Birla Group is separately completing the purchase of a 4.8% stake in Vodafone Idea from Vodafone Group for a total consideration of INR 26bn, in accordance with the maximum price payable under the SEBI pricing guidelines.After taking those proceeds into account, that implied a net capital injection by Vodafone Group of INR 60bn.Following completion, Vodafone would own a 45.2% stake in Vodafone Idea and Aditya Birla Group would own a 26.0% stake, both on a fully-diluted basis.Vodafone said it would also separately hold a 29.4% stake in the combined entity resulting from the merger between Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers.