As top bosses of Vodafone and Essar arrived in Hong Kong to negotiate a deal for acquiring Hutchison Telecom's Indian business, its parent company has indicated it will not consider any offer below $14 billion.
Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecom International Ltd, which sold its majority stake in Hutch-Essar to Vodafone, has already made its final submission before the investment regulator.
A day after Vodafone announced its $11.1 billion acquisition of Hutchison's equity holding in Hutch-Essar, India's fourth largest mobile service provider, it received an unsolicited advice from the Egyptian CEO of Orascom, Naguib Sawiris.
Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecom Limited is expected to submit details of loans to two Indian minority shareholders this week to the finance ministry, which is looking into alleged breach of foreign direct investment norms in Hutch-Essar.
Hutchison Telecom International Ltd will convene an extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders on March 9 to vote on sale of its controlling stake in Indian mobile operator Hutch-Essar to UK mobile phone giant Vodafone.
AG is of the view that there is no point in dragging the matter further when it has already been "struck down" by one international forum, and also by the top Indian court.
"Kraft's acquisition of Cadbury is a global acquisition, where some value is attributable to India. This is different from Vodafone, where the transfer of a single share of the offshore company by Hutch resulted in the Indian business getting transferred to Vodafone," said Pranay Bhatia, associate partner at legal firm Economic Laws Practice.
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
Seeks capital gains tax payment prior to FIPB clearance.
The onus of the tax dues of Rs 22,100 crore on Vodafone India's British parent could also fall on the merged entity.
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.
Says cap breached on account of Singh, Ghosh stakes.
However, Misra added that Vodafone will need to follow this transition up with a highly visible multimedia campaign in the initial two months. "This will instill confidence among consumers that their brand is in the right hands," he said.
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 decks are being cleared for the acquisition of Hutch-Essar by Vodafone, with the department of legal affairs of the view that the 12.26 per cent stake held in Hutch-Essar by Asim Ghosh and Analjit Singh was in conformity with norms.
Ahead of the key vote by Hutchison Telecom shareholders on sale of Indian assets to Vodafone, the Hong Kong-based firm and its minority partners in Hutch-Essar have asserted that their investments met foreign direct investment norms
Having lost the battle for Hutchison Essar, Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Communications is drawing up plans to invest up to $2.5 billion.
The Ruias, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group, Hindujas and Vodafone are all believed to have put in their bids.
The income tax (I-T) department in Mumbai has requested Vodafone to make an application to the assessing officer for determining the exact tax liability resulting from buying out 62 per cent equity stake from Hutchison in Hutchison Essar Ltd.
Hutchison Telecom on Sunday said talks were on with various suitors for sale of its holding in joint venture Hutch-Essar in India and that there was no time-frame for a decision.
Hutchison Telecom, the Hong Kong- based mobile major, on Tuesday said its first-half profits ended June have risen from the sale of its Indian assets to UK's Vodafone that included a one-time gain of Hong Kong dollars 69.3 billion.
Hindujas had put in a bid of $20 billion -- higher than Vodafone's bid of $19.3 billion.
Singapore based telecom firm SingTel, which holds over 30 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel, on Wednesday said it has full faith in the company's corporate governance standards under the leadership of company's chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal.
To outgoing Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao, negotiating big deals was an art form, as an international report pointed out after the $130-billion sale of Vodafone's 45 per cent stake in Verizon Wireless, says Nivedita Mookerji.
The Essar Oil, Rosneft deal also helped Arpwood Capital, boutique investment bank, co-founded by Rajeev Gupta and Raj Kataria, to grab the second spot in the mergers and acquisitions league table.
UBS AG's head of operations (India), Manisha Girotra has resigned from the bank to pursue her own business venture. The lender has named Aashish Kamat as the new head of its India business.
The retrospective tax controversy was highlighted by Vodafone, but Cairn Plc's continuing problems point to the impact this law has had on FDI in India's oil and gas sector.
The government said it has identified a few more cross-border merger and acquisition cases, including Barclays-Intelnet deal, for possible tax evasion after slapping Rs 11,000-crore (Rs 110 billion) tax notice on Vodafone for Hutchison Essar deal.
Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the telecom major, informed Justice Manmohan that the company in its response to the high court's August 22 notice has said it is not acceding to jurisdiction of the Indian courts in the matter.
Analysts said even though the Indian economy is expected to slow down to 7.2 per cent in fiscal 2020, it is still the best bet for investment for foreign investors.
This follows the expiry of its brand-use agreement with the BPL Group. The company, which faces an ownership battle between the Ruias of the Essar Group and the UK-based Vodafone, does not expect 'any issues' to arise from the change. "Loop is an extension of an ongoing campaign, Get in the Loop, and it will be easy for our subscribers to identify with this new brand name," said BPL Mobile Director and CEO Sanjeev Chachondia.
The FIPB referred the matter to the law ministry today.
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.
Finance ministry is understood to have reservations on the ownership of minority stakeholders in Hutchison-Essar and is likely to raise the issue at the FIPB meeting.
Egyptian telecom firm Orascom's CEO Naguib Sawiris has resigned from the board of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecom, days before its shareholders are scheduled to consider the sale of its stake in Indian mobile venture Hutch-Essar to Vodafone.
Ahead of his scheduled meeting with Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin, who is bidding for Hutch-Essar, Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran on Wednesday said the government wanted good companies to enter the country.
India's telecom sector has been through dizzying peaks, troughs, policy U-turns, court battles, brutal competition, and daily controversies. India could go back to a private sector duopoly with just Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel surviving the mayhem. The third player, Vodafone Idea, could be history.
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