Piramal Healthcare to Acquire 5.5% Stake in Vodafone Essar

Vodafone Group (“Vodafone”) and Piramal Healthcare (“Piramal”) today announced that Piramal has agreed to purchase approximately 5.5% of the issued equity share capital of Vodafone Essar Limited (“VEL”) from ETHL Communications Holdings Limited (“Essar”) for cash consideration of approximately US$640 million (£400 million¹).

The transaction follows the settlement between Vodafone and Essar over the sale of Essar’s approximately 33% stake in VEL, announced on 1 July 2011.

The transaction contemplates various exit mechanisms for Piramal, including both participation in a potential initial public offering of VEL and a sale of its stake to Vodafone².

For further information:

Vodafone Group

Media Relations
Tel: +44 (0) 1635 664444

Investor Relations
Tel: +44 (0) 7919 990 230

About Vodafone

Vodafone is one of the world's largest mobile communications companies by revenue with approximately 382 million customers in its controlled and jointly controlled markets as at 30 June 2011. Vodafone currently has equity interests in over 30 countries across five continents and more than 40 partner networks worldwide. For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com.

¹ At an exchange rate of £1.00:US$1.60

²The value of 100% of the gross assets of VEL as at 31 March 2011 was US$14.0 billion (£8.7 billion¹)