Hutchison Essar is an Indian Company, the controlling interest of Hutchison Essar is held by an SPV of Cayman Island (CGP Investments Holding Ltd). CGP is owned by Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd (HTIL), Hong Kong.
The Ruias of Essar have informed merchant bankers that they have 'veto powers' to prevent any buyer of Hutchison Whampoa's 67 per cent stake in Hutchison-Essar from using its own brand name.
Vodafone recently bought the 67 per cent stake held by Hutchison. The remaining equity is held by the Ruias.
The Ruias, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group, Hindujas and Vodafone are all believed to have put in their bids.
Agency reports said Hutchison Whampoa had received bid interest in its Indian mobile business, but that the prices indicated so far were too low.
The race for Hutch-Essar, the country's fourth largest mobile service provider, quickened on Wednesday with Hong-Kong based Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd formally informing the 4 companies in the fray to submit their bids by Friday
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
Hindujas have virtually decided to sell their 5.1 per cent stake in mobile company Hutch-Essar to Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd for an estimated value up to $450 million (Rs 20.25 billion).
British telecom giant Vodafone Group plc on Friday won an arbitration against the Indian government over a demand for Rs 22,100 crore in taxes using retrospective legislation.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has initiated discussions with banks to address financial stress in the telecom sector, particularly Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) that urgently requires fund infusion to stay afloat. There was a meeting of DOT officials and senior bankers on Friday on the issue of Vodafone, sources said, adding that banks have been asked to look for a solution within the prudential guidelines. According to sources, senior officials from the country's biggest lenders State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda were also present among others in the meeting. More such meetings are expected to take place in the coming days, they said.
Faced with prospect of its assets across the globe being seized just like Pakistan and Venezuela, the government decided to scrap retrospective taxation but the international embarrassment could have been avoided had 'attached' shares of Britain's Cairn Energy Plc not been sold, according to tax and legal experts. On Thursday, the government introduced a Bill in Parliament to scrap the tax rule that gave the tax department power to go 50 years back and slap capital gains levies wherever ownership had changed hands overseas but business assets were in India. The 2012 legislation was used to levy a cumulative of Rs 1.10 lakh crore of tax on 17 entities, including UK telecom giant Vodafone, but substantial punitive action was taken only in the case of Cairn.
The retrospective tax decision reversing the January 2012 Supreme Court verdict in the Vodafone case has often been cited as the reason for foreign investors losing confidence in India as an investment destination.
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