Vodafone, Essar Group lock horns over management
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(InfoWorld) - Vodafone Group and the Essar Group couldÂ lock hornsÂ over the Indian company's demand to share management of Hutchison Essar, a large Indian mobile phone network operator. Essar claims it has the right to first refusal for any sale of equity in Hutchison Essar by Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. (HTIL), a claim denied by both Vodafone and HTIL. "We want joint management and a partnership of equals," a spokesman for Essar Group in Mumbai said Tuesday. Although the Essar Group would leave the day-to-day management of the company to Vodafone, it wants to be consulted on all strategic decisions, the spokesman said. The Essar Group, which holds 33 percent of the equity in Hutchison Essar, is scheduled to negotiate later this week a shareholder agreement with Vodafone, which hasÂ agreed to acquireÂ a 67 percent interest in Hutchison Essar from HTIL. The Essar Group claims that in its shareholder agreement, it has the right of first refusal if HTIL sells its equity, and that it may use this clause in the agreement to bargain with Vodafone. That view, however, isn't shared by Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin, who last week told reporters that the Essar Group's right of first refusal doesn't apply to its agreement to acquire HTIL's stake. Nor does HTIL agree with the Essar Group. The right to first refusal applies only to the sale of equity by HTIL to local Indian competitors, the company said. The Essar Group is not a portfolio investor in Hutchison Essar and wants a say in running the business, the spokesman said. The arrangement would be similar to the one that the Essar Group had with HTIL and that helped grow the business for Hutchison Essar, he added. While announcing its agreement to acquire a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar, Vodafone also made an offer to acquire Essar Group's stake at the same price per share offered to HTIL. If the Essar Group sells its stake, Hutchison's local partners, which together have a 15 percent interest in Hutchison Essar, will increase their interest to 26 percent, Vodafone said. Current Indian rules restrict foreign ownership in telecom service providers to 74 percent. Vodafone expressed interest, however, in having the Essar Group continue as a joint-venture partner. Indian joint ventures of multinational technology companies have typically ended with the foreign company buying out the local joint venture partner. In 1991, for example IBM set up a 50:50 joint venture with India's Tata Group to meet Indian government regulations restricting foreign ownership in computer companies. When that restriction was eased, IBM bought out Tata's share. Last week, however, the Essar Group said it would not exit from Hutchison Essar and would even be interested in increasing its stake in the mobile phone operator if an opportunity arose, the spokesman said.
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Vodafone on Friday dismissed an inquiry from the Indian authorities, who are seeking about $2bn in tax from the UK company following its $10.9bn takeover of Hutchison Essar, India&#39;s fourth-largest mobile phone operator.
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BARCELONA/HONG KONG  - Vodafone  shares climbed on Monday after the British mobile phone giant beat rival suitors with an $11.1 billion bid for a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar, India's fourth-biggest cellphone firm.
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InfoWorld - An Indian NGO (non-government organization) called Telecom Watchdog has filed a petition with the High Court of Delhi, alleging that foreign shareholding in mobile services operator Hutchison Essar is in breach of the Indian government&#39;s regulations on foreign direct investment (FDI).
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British mobile phone giant Vodafone, grappling with intense competition in Europe, tapped into the booming Indian economy after winning control of Hutchison Essar for 11.1 billion dollars.
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Mobile developers around the world are in an uproar over a change Vodafone Group PLC has made in the U.K. that dramatically decreases the quality of their products and that they fear could prevent new and innovative mobile services from reaching the market.
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Vodafone Group PLC on Monday denied a newspaper report it is considering making a $160 billion bid for its U.S. partner in the wireless phone business, Verizon Communications Inc.
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India's Essar Group will remain as a key shareholder in Indian mobile services provider Hutchison Essar, but will likely negotiate stronger minority shareholder rights with Vodafone Group, which Sunday announced it wasÂ acquiring a controlling 67 percent stakeÂ in the company.
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BARCELONA/HONG KONG  - Vodafone shares climbed in early Monday trading after it beat rival suitors with an $11.1 billion bid for a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar, India's fourth-biggest mobile phone firm.
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(InfoWorld) - Shareholders of Vodafone Group soundly rejected a proposal to spin off the company's stake in Verizon Wireless on Tuesday, signaling they want the British mobile operator's management to stay the course. Vodafone, which has cellular businesses in 23 countries around the world, owns 45 percent of Verizon Wireless. Incumbent wireline carrier Verizon Communications holds the other 55 percent. Efficient Capital Structures (ECS), an investor group, presented a resolution for Vodafone's Tuesday annual meeting that called on the carrier to either create a new holding company consisting of its stake in Verizon Wireless or create a separate tracking stock so investors could choose to buy into that part of Vodafone. ECS argued investors can't take advantage of Verizon's success today. "The investment is 'buried' within Vodafone's Emerging Markets division, preventing the market from valuing it directly," ECS Chairman Glenn Cooper said in a statement to shareholders. He also argued that because Verizon uses CDMA while the rest of Vodafone's networks are based on GSM, it should be broken out. However, less than 5 percent of Vodafone shares were voted in favor of the resolution, one of a series of proposals by the group that the company's board opposed. All of them were voted down. Verizon Wireless is one of the two dominant mobile operators in the U.S. Rival AT&T has 62 million subscribers to Verizon's 60 million, but Verizon had slightly more revenue last year at about US$38 billion. Vodafone's stake in the operator gives it a toehold in the U.S. mobile market but doesn't allow it to run its own business or build up its brand. Vodafone tried to acquire AT&T Wireless in 2004 before that company was acquired by Cingular. Joint ownership also leaves Verizon Communications without full ownership of its cellular business, which rival AT&T now has. That may make it easier for AT&T to bundle wired and wireless services for subscribers. Last week,Â Vodafone denied reports that it was considering buying all of Verizon CommunicationsÂ and then spinning off the wireless business. Vodafone had 198.6 million customers across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region at the end of last year. Â
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Britain's Vodafone Group  has  won the auction for a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar with  an offer that gives India's fourth biggest mobile operator an  enterprise value of just under $19 billion, a source close to  the auction said on Sunday.
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Vodafone  shares  climbed on Monday after the British mobile phone giant beat  rival suitors with an $11.1 billion bid for a controlling stake  in Hutchison Essar, India's fourth-biggest cellphone firm.
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Vodafone  Chief Executive Arun  Sarin is expected to be opposed by several large investors at  the mobile phone giant's annual meeting on Tuesday, though he  will almost certainly be re-elected to the board.
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The European Commission says Vodafone and T-Mobile abuse their dominant positions in the German mobile phone market.
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Shares in Vodafone Group Plc, the world&#39;s largest mobile-phone operator, dropped after The Wall Street Journal said the company is considering bidding with US partner Verizon Communications Inc.
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Vodafone looks to have won the battle for control of Hutchison Essar, India's fourth largest mobile operator, according to people familiar with the matter.
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The misinformation and confusion over whether or not the US mobile phone company Verizon Wireless, part owned by Vodafone, is going to muscle in on the $35bn (Â£18bn) merger of rivals Sprint and Nextel continued yesterday with hedge funds playing both