Piramal Enterprises Thursday said it will sell its 11 percent stake in Vodafone India for Rs.8,900 crore ($1.48 billion).

 

 In a corporate filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the company said it has agreed to sell its entire stake to Prime Metals, which is an indirect subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc. 

 

 "The equity purchase in Vodafone was consistent with our objective of making investments that offer opportunity to generate attractive long term return on equity,"  Ajay Piramal, chairman, Piramal Group was quoted in the corporate filing.

 

 "I am glad to say that we have delivered against our targeted returns with this investment." The company had acquired the stake in 2012-13, with an average share price of Rs.1,290  with a total consideration of Rs.5,864 crore in two tranches. Scrip of  Piramal Enterprises rose to 5.59 percent or 29.95 points at Rs.566.10 at the BSE around 2.15 p.m. from its previous close of Rs.536.15.

 

 Earlier, the government had allowed UK based telecom major to invest Rs.10,141 crore to buy out Piramal and Vodafone India, non-executive chairman Analjit Singh's stake in the company.