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Did Providence just sell its entire 3.33% stake in Idea Cellular?

Idea's shares crashed over 6% in early trade on Tuesday after a block deal of 120 million shares.

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Idea Cellular's shares fell up to 6.54% on Tuesday in early trade on the BSE after 3.3% of equity trade in a block deal. According to an alert from Bloomberg, 120 million shares changed hands in a single block deal. Was the seller Providence Private Equity which holds 3.33% stake in the telecom company? 

On Monday, a report by PTI had said that Providence was likely to exit Idea Cellular by selling the remainder of its 3.33% stake for about Rs 1,200 crore. Providence had picked up about 15% stake in Idea Cellular in 2006 for about Rs 1,800 crore and has been selling it over the years.

Idea's shares were down 4.60%, down 4.01% at Rs 110 per share. They hit an intraday low of Rs 107.10, down 6.54%.

Talks about Providence wanting to exit Idea first came when Vodafone Plc announced that it was looking to merge its operations with Idea Cellular amid tough competition posed by Reliance Jio. The merged entity, if the deal comes through, would surpass Airtel to become the largest telecom company in the country, by way of subscribers. 

Meanwhile while Bloomberg said that the buyers and sellers of the block deal were not known immediately, the aforementioned PTI report had said that Providence "will be selling the stake on the exchanges tomorrow in a block deal in a price range of Rs 106.5 to Rs 114.55," quoting sources. 

On Tuesday morning, Idea Cellular's stock was the most traded Indian stock by volume and value on the BSE. It was also the worst performer on S&P BSE 100, BSE 200 and BSE 500 indices. 

 

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