Vodafone’s bid of $19 Billion for Hutch-Essar [EV] was accepted by HTIL. It is reliably learnt that Reliance Communications bid was at $17 Billion. Vodafone however has few hurdles and the biggest hurdle is behind them as Essar groups Shashi Ruia said that he is delighted by the value created by Vodafone 🙂
Essar may have to shed some stake or Vodafone India must go for an IPO in India because Essar group currently holds 21% stake in Hutch Essar through an overseas company. Also Vodafone has to dump its 10% stake in Bharti-Airtel Ltd and pay a fine to get past the Non-Compete clause they signed with Mr. Sunil Mittal.
The deal is in the overall interest of the Indian Telecom Industry as we will now have 4 players with PAN India presence [ Airtel, BSNL, Hutch / Vodafone India and Reliance Communications] and 2 more players [Idea cellular and Aircel ] who will make it there in the next few quarters. Had Reliance won the bid, then it would get 50% plus market share in few circles and that would have wiped away competition. It is also good that Reliance Telecom will now aggressively spend in building a 3G GSM network 🙂
It is understood that Arun Sarin and Asim Ghosh both share a good rapport and thus we are unlikelyto see a shakeup or reorganization as Asim Ghosh is likely to enjoy the confidence of Arun Sarin.
Congratulations to Mr.Sarin. We welcome Vodafone to India.
Tags: Mobile India, Vodafone, Hutch, Telecom India
This news just in…
Bharti Airtel to BuyBack 5.6% from Vodafone at $1.6 Billion by means of deffered payment. Vodafone will continue to hold 4.4% in Bharti Airtel.