Vodafone Idea surges 26 per cent on Amazon & Verizon investment talks

The shares of Vodafone Idea climbed by more than 26 per cent during Thursday's trade amid reports suggesting that the retailer Amazon and the wireless carrier Verizon Communications were looking to invest over US$ 4 billion for a stake in the telecom operator. The news comes a day ahead of Vodafone Idea's board meeting on fundraising.

Vodafone Idea's stake-sale talks had earlier been paused due to the pending outcome of a court hearing in India, which created uncertainty and also, could pose a threat to the survival of the company.

Heavily indebted Vodafone Idea, a joint venture between Britain's Vodafone Group Plc and India's Idea Cellular, had previously revealed that its ability to continue rests on the positive outcome of AGR dispute hearing. Supreme Court in its ruling on Tuesday gave the company 10 years to settle the government dues.

The struggling operator has paid Rs 7,850 crore (US$ 1.1 billion) to the Indian government for telecoms dues till now, according to regulatory filings but still owe roughly Rs 50,000 crore (US$ 6.8 billion).

On Thursday, the stock of Vodafone Idea closed at Rs 12.56 per share, higher by 26.74 per cent or Rs 2.65 per share on BSE, against a 0.24 per cent decline in the benchmark index. The 52-week high is recorded at Rs 12.62 and the 52-week low is Rs 2.61 on BSE.