E-Paper
Hutchsion, others buy out Hinduja stake in JV
Hutchison along with some other investors are believed to have signed the deal to buy out a 5.11% stake of Hinduja TMT.
Hong Kong based Hutchison Telecommunication along with some other investors are believed to have signed the deal to buy out a 5.11 per cent stake of Hinduja TMT in the unlisted Indian cellular company Hutchsion Essar for upto $450 million on Friday.
The deal between the shareholders is understood to have been signed and the entire stake of 5.11 per cent has not gone only to Hutch, but to some other investor(s) as well who may be Indian also, sources associated with the process said.
The identity of other investors are yet to be disclosed. Hinduja TMT will make a formal announcement in the next one-two hours.
The deal is based on a valuation of the unlisted Indian JV -- Hutchison Essar -- between eight-nine billion dollars, done by some national and international investment bankers including IndusInd investment banking, which is also the advisor for Hinduja TMT.
The acquisition would take Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd's direct holding to almost 48 per cent in Hutchison Essar. HTIL is a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa.
The Ruias of the Essar group hold 33.6 per cent in the company.
Hutchison Essar is India's third-ranked mobile operator by virtue of its 18.06 million GSM customers. In comparison, top ranked Bharti Airtel Ltd has 21.86 million GSM customers and second-ranked Reliance Communications Ltd has 21.5 million wireless services customers.
