Idea Cellular today said First State Investment Management (UK) Ltd has increased its stake

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in the telecom services company to over 5 per cent.

First State Investments is a part of the asset management division of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

First State Investment Management (UK) Ltd on its behalf and First State Investments International Ltd has acquired 5.70 crore shares through open market to take its shareholding to 5.02 per cent, Idea Cellular said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Earlier, the shareholding stood at 3.29 per cent, it added.

Shares of Idea Cellular today closed at Rs 98.25 a piece, up 4.13 per cent from its previous close on the BSE.

Last week, Monet Ltd, a part of global investment firm ChrysCapital, had sold over 8.34 crore shares in Idea Cellular -- amounting to over 2 per cent stake -- for about Rs 750 crore.

Monet had sold about 8.34 crore shares of the country's fourth largest telecom company at Rs 90 apiece in a bulk deal on the National Stock Exchange as per the data on the NSE website.

Also First State Asia Pacific Leader Fund bought about 4.10 crore shares of the telecom company at Rs 90 each, the data showed.