2 weeks Ago
Care Ratings has boosted Vodafone Idea ’s credit rating a notch to BBB- from the earlier BB+ , which is set to further boost the telco’s prospects of concluding its pending Rs 25,000 crore debt raise. “..
.Care Ratings Ltd (CARE) has upgraded its rating assigned to the Long-Term Bank Facilities and Short-Term Bank Facilities as per the rating letter issued to the company today,” Vi said in an exchange filing Monday. Shares of Vi closed 10.
25% higher at Rs 8.07 on the BSE Monday. The rating change filing came after market hours.
Earlier this month, ratings agency ICRA Ltd had similarly assigned an improved BBB- credit rating to Vi’s long-term fund facilities. The telco had then said that Vi’s return to an investment grade rating, which is a requirement for banks to provide funding, would result in the debt funding discussions progressing in the right direction. Advt The improved credit ratings for Vi from two leading rating agencies comes on the heels of the government’s debt conversion.
Raising debt from banks is critical for Vi to execute its Rs 50,000-55,000 crore capex plans over the next three years for expanding 4G operations in priority circles and rolling out 5G in key cities. The telco needs to quickly expand its 4G services as it looks to narrow network coverage gaps with bigger rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, and arrest customer losses. Bulk of Vi’s targeted network capex plan can happen only after it lines up the pending debt funds from banks.
Vi is looking for a Rs 25,000 crore credit-line from its lenders. Till now, it has raised Rs 26,000 crore in equity. Bank funding has, hitherto, been delayed due to lack of clarity over AGR liabilities.
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