Idea-Voda to ring in deal in Mar alongside Grasim-Nuvo vote call

 The much-awaited announcement on the mega-merger of telecom majors Vodafone and Idea Cellular might come in the first week of March, alongside voting notices that the Kumar Mangalam Birla group plans to send out to the shareholders of Grasim Industries and Aditya Birla Nuvo on their proposed merger. The much-awaited announcement on the mega-merger of telecom majors Vodafone and Idea Cellular might come in the first week of March, alongside voting notices that the Kumar Mangalam Birla group plans to send out to the shareholders of Grasim Industries and Aditya Birla Nuvo on their proposed merger, reports Business Standard.

 The reasoning behind initiating the activities together is that it might help mitigate concerns of Grasim shareholders over Nuvo’s exposure to Idea, which has been witnessing falling returns on capital employed amid severe competitive pressures from new player Reliance Jio. Aditya Birla Nuvo is the promoter shareholder of Idea with 23.25 percent stake, while Grasim is one of the co-promoters with 4.75 percent stake. At current market prices, Grasim’s stake in Idea amounts to roughly Rs 2,000 crore. At present, relatively newer businesses of the Kumar Mangalam Birla group mostly in the financial services and telecom space are under Nuvo. Grasim has the more mature businesses like cement through UltraTech Cement . Grasim also owns small stakes in other group companies like Hindalco, Aditya Birla Nuvo and Aditya Birla Fashion. Meanwhile, P5 Asia Investments (Mauritius), an arm of the private equity firm Providence Equity Partners, also sold its 3.3 percent stake in Idea via a block deal on Tuesday. The PE firm had picked up 15 percent in 2006 for around Rs 1,800 crore and has been paring its holding continuously over the years. Citi is believed to be the sole book runner for this deal

 Read more for Indian Stock Tips- http://bit.ly/ace_services