Vodafone India and Idea Cellular are reportedly making “closing adjustments” to their merger agreement ahead of its closure in 2018.
The last-minute changes take into account the fact that Idea’s most recent earnings have been lower than expected, resulting in losses that were greater than those anticipated when the deal was originally made. For its fiscal Q2 (ending 30th September) Idea registered a loss of INR11.76 billion ($182 million), with a 20% year-on-year fall in consolidated revenue.
The operator’s owner Aditya Birla Group has reportedly been discussing possible adjustments with Vodafone Group, but a representative for the latter firm denied that any renegotiation was underway. They confirmed only that the merger partners were attempting to have the deal green lit by regulators.
In March this year, Vodafone and Aditya Birla Group announced their intention to merge their operations, in a move that would create a new market leader. At the time of announcement, their combined units held a value of $23.2 billion. The deal was scheduled to close in H1 2018.
The agreement originally awarded Vodafone ownership of 45.1% of the merged operations, with Aditya Birla holding 26%.
