Vodafone Said Preparing to Appoint India IPO Banks in Early 2016

Vodafone Group Plc plans to ask banks to pitch for a role advising on the initial public offering of its Indian business as early as the first quarter of 2016, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The schedule would give Vodafone time to assess the impact from billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s upstart wireless operator Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. -- which is slated to start commercial operations around December -- before it sells shares later in 2016, the people said. Vodafone may sell at least 10 percent of the India unit through the offering, which could value the business with more than 180 million customers at about $20 billion, said the people, asking not to be identified as the information is private.