|
Help | |
You are here: Rediff Home » India » Business » Business Headline » Report |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Advertisement | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Aditya Birla Telecom Ltd (ABTL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Idea Cellular [Get Quote], will offload 20 per cent to Providence Equity Partners, a
This takes
ABTL is a Universal Access Service Licence (UASL) holder with permission to provide telecom services in the country, in the
"Earlier, Providence Equity had invested $400 million in exchange for 12.5 per cent equity. ABTL will use the funds for expansion like network rollout and ongoing operations, with the company very close to launching services in the
ABTL, which was allocated spectrum for 3G rollout in the
ABTL may be listed on the stock markets at an "appropriate time", Aga said.
After offloading the 20 per cent stake -- which requires regulatory approval and is expected to be closed by August this year -- Idea Cellular will hold the remaining 80 per cent stake.
DSP Merrill Lynch was the sole financial advisor to Idea on the transaction.
ABTL will also look at an initial public offering (IPO) and subsequent listing in the "medium term", Aga said, but did not provide a timeframe.
This is the only private equity investment in an Indian telecom operator, though passive infrastructure companies like Reliance [Get Quote] Infratel had received investments.
Meanwhile, Idea Cellular will also transfer its 16 per cent stake in
Idea Cellular has licences to operate in all the 22 circles, while it has already launched operations in 11 service areas and has a customer base of over 25 million.
Powered byEmail this Article Print this Article |
|
© 2008 Rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer | Feedback |