The UK on Tuesday assured complete government neutrality on Tata Steel's bid to acquire Corus and sought similar treatment for British telecom firm Vodafone in its bid to acquire mobile venture Hutchison-Essar.
British telecom giant Vodafone could face a downgrade in its credit rating by Standard and Poor's if its proposed bid for Hutchison Essar Ltd exceeds $19 billion, a media report said in London.
Singapore Telecom is believed to have sought the removal of Vodafone representatives from the board of Bharti Airtel, following the British telecom major's bid to acquire a majority stake in Hutchison Essar.
In a report, JP Morgan said Vodafone needed to raise exposure to high-growth emerging markets and offset prospective fall in EBITDA in Europe.
Experts argue that the cost savings both in terms of capex as well as operating costs can be substantial in the next one to two years.
As India's largest drugmaker unveiled a deal worth up to $4.6bn to sell control to Daiichi Sankyo of Japan, the disbelief at the press conference was palpable.
Hutchinson Max Telecom Pvt Ltd is planning to consolidate its various telecom operations in India under a single entity, including that of Hutchison Essar Telecom Ltd and Fascel Ltd, for which the company has filed an application with FIPB.
In the case, which will begin on Tuesday and last for five days, Indian tax authorities will argue that Vodafone, the UK-based mobile phone group headed by Arun Sarin, is liable for an estimated $2bn in taxes on its $11bn acquisition of local operator, Hutchison Essar, last year.
Siemens has inked an agreement with Hutchison Essar for its music download technology Music2You. the latter will enable full-length songs to be previewed and downloaded on its handsets.
Reliance Communications has sought government approval for sponsoring a secondary Global Depository Receipts offering of up to $1.2 billion, representing 6.53 per cent of the total paid-up equity shares of the company.
Ruias have rights to tag along with Hutch in any sale.
Bharti Airtel will start talks for "disengagement" from its partner Vodafone once the UK company decides on its future course of action in India.
Reliance Comm wants all of Hutch Essar at one go.
A landmark court challenge by Vodafone against Indian tax authorities, which want it to pay an estimated $2bn in taxes on its acquisition of Hutchison Essar, has been adjourned for three months. The Bombay high court delayed the hearing until June 23. It is a case that has potential implications for mergers and acquisitions of Indian assets by foreign companies. The court said it wanted to allow time for changes to tax laws to come into force.
When Ernst & Young got the mandate from Vodafone late last week to carry out a due diligence on Hutchison-Essar Ltd, it was another feather in the cap for Rajiv Memani.
The Hinduja Group on Friday said it is likely to start examining the books of Hutchison Essar Ltd next week and has arranged funds for a possible bid to acquire a controlling stake in the mobile firm.
Leading GSM service provider Hutch would roll out its services in West Bengal and Sikkim by the end of the current year, executive director of Hutchison Essar Sandip Das said in Kapurthala on Thursday.
Telecom services, cell-to-fixed line phones and vice versa remained crippled for the second day on Saturday even as cell operators shot off letters to telecom regulator and state-owned MTNL.
The 'Lion of Lucknow' came up with a fine showing on the penultimate day of the Hutchison-Essar Open.
Naguib Sawiris, CEO of Orascom, which is open to acquire Hutch-Essar, said during his India visit that "they (Essar) felt bad because they thought they were not consulted before (the Egyptian firm) came on board.
The government, however, amended the tax laws with retrospective effect to undo the Supreme Court judgement and claim taxes.
Sunil Mittal's Bharti, in which British telecom firm Vodafone has 10 per cent stake, said on Thursday it is yet to hear a final word from the UK-based operator on its plans to buyout Hutchison Telecom's stake in Indian joint venture Hutch-Essar.
Indian family-run business houses have in recent years seen ugly public spats between owners over control. But metals-to-ports conglomerate Essar's Ruia family seems to be an exception. Three generations of the Ruia family - founder brother Shashi and Ravi Ruia, their children and grandchildren - continue to live under one roof and jointly run the business empire.
Amid long-pending dispute between the UK-based telecom giant Vodafone and the tax authorities in India, Finance Minister's advisor Parthasarathi Shome on Wednesday said the government should not use retrospective amendment of tax laws to raise revenues.
The dispute between Vodafone and the Ruia-owned Essar Group, its 33 per cent partners in Vodafone-Essar, over ownership of BPL Mobile deepened this week after the UK-based telecom major alleged that Essar had altered the share structure of the Mumbai service provider in violation of a 2006 agreement
British telecom giant Vodafone on Wednesday ruled out any higher offer for buying out Essar's 33 per cent stake in mobile venture Hutch-Essar, saying it would be same as that for Hutchison Telecom's stake.
Shareholders of Hutchison Telecom would on May 8, vote on a proposal to pay Essar group $415 million to ensure smooth transaction with UK's Vodafone for sale of majority equity in Hutch-Essar.
Delhi High Court issued notices on Monday to the Centre, Hutchison Telecom India Ltd, Hutch-Essar and its minority shareholders among others on a petition alleging breach of foreign direct investment norms in telecom sector.
The much-talked-about sale of Ambuja Cement and ACC by Holcim Group will see the single-biggest outflow of foreign capital from the country if the two cement firms are acquired by Indian investors. The deal, valued at nearly $10.35 billion, will put in the shade Cairn Energy Plc's exit from India in 2010, when it sold Cairn India to Vedanta Group for $4.48 billion. According to various reports, big business groups such as AV Birla, JSW Group, and Adani Group are in the fray to acquire Holcim's assets in India.
The Finance Ministry is of the opinion that Vodafone might drag its tax dispute to court.
The IT department had issued a tax assessment order in December 2011 asking Vodafone to add Rs 8,500 crore (Rs 85 billion) to its taxable income, thus raising the tax liability of the company.
The exploration and production assets of Essar Oil will not be part of the Rosneft deal and would continue to remain with the Group.
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