Vodafone bags majority stake in India's Hutchison Essar
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(InfoWorld) - British mobile services operator Vodafone Group will acquire a majority stake in Hutchison Essar, winning aÂ heated bid for controlÂ of the Indian mobile services operator. Vodafone announced late Sunday that it has agreed to acquire companies that control a 67 percent stake in Hutchison Essar from Hutchison Telecommunications International, a subsidiary of Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa. Hutchison Telecommunications holds a majority stake in Hutchison Essar both directly and through a joint venture company in which Indian partners hold shares. Vodafone will pay $11.1 billion in cash for the acquisition, along with assuming $2 billion in debt, through its subsidiary Vodafone International Holdings. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of this year, and is conditional to Indian regulatory approval, it said. Hutchison's decision came over the weekend, after it evaluated bids from four key contenders including Indian mobile services provider Reliance Communications, the Hinduja Group of the U.K., and Indiaâs Essar Group, which holds 33 percent in Hutchison Essar, according to informed sources. Vodafone will offer to acquire the Essar Groupâs stake at the same price per share it is offering Hutchison, the company said. Indian regulations however do not allow foreign operators to hold more than 74 percent of the equity in an Indian telecommunications service provider. If the Essar Group sells its stake, Hutchisonâs local partners, which together have a 15 percent interest in Hutchison Essar, will increase their interest to 26 percent, Vodafone said. The Essar Group said in its statement late Sunday that it was evaluating an offer from Vodafone to be a partner. The Essar Group has the option to continue as an equity holder in Hutchison Essar or sell its stake along with Hutchison Telecommunications. Vodafone has been seeking Hutchisonâs stake since December last year, and in January the companyâs CEO,Â Arun Sarin visited India to press its caseÂ with the Indian government and business partners here. India is adding over 6 million new mobile subscribers every month. Hutchison Essar had 23.3 million customers as of December 31, 2006, which gave it a 16.4 percent market share. Vodafone also offered Sunday to sell its stake of 5.6 percent in Bharti Airtel, also a large Indian mobile services operator, to another company of the Bharti Group for $1.6 billion, double the price for which itÂ acquired the stake in 2005. It also announced a memorandum of understanding with Bharti Airtel for infrastructure sharing with Hutchison Essar.
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Norwegian telecoms company Telenor have formally taken over Serbia's biggest mobile operator Mobi 63, a month after paying 1.5 billion euros (1.9 billion dollars) for it.
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Global mobile provider Vodafone began using its own name across India Friday following its purchase of an Indian firm, rolling out what the company called one of the world&#39;s biggest rebrandings.
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Vodafone is the first operator in the Netherlands to offer UMTS coverage to more than half of the Dutch population.
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The offer values Hutchison Essar, one of Indiaâs fastest-growing telecommunications companies, at about $19 billion.
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Vodafone, the world&#39;s largest mobile phone company, today gave shareholders an early Christmas present by doubling its half-year dividend to 1.91p and extending a share buy-back programme.
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Vodafone Group Plc plans to hand 6.0  billion pounds ($11.12 billion) back to shareholders this year  after doubling half-year and full-year dividends and boosting a  multi-billion pound share buy-back program.
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HONG KONG/BARCELONA  - Shares in Vodafone are expected to open higher on Monday 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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HONG KONG: Hutchison Whampoa Ltd said yesterday it paid 469.55 million euros (US$631.5mil) to buy a 1.6% stake in its Italian 3G mobile phone venture and to repay a loan from CIR unit Cirtel.
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Mobile phone titan Vodafone Group Plc doubled its half-year dividend to 1.91 pence, the top end of forecasts, and extended a full-year share buy-back program in a widely-anticipated handout to investors.
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Splurges Indian ink Vodafone announced today it had finally netted a 67 per cent controlling interest in Indian operator Hutch Essar for $11.1bn cash.â¦
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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 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.
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In one of India&#39;s largest media blitzes, Vodafone has kicked off the re-branding of its new Indian mobile phone business by buying all the commercials on Star India&#39;s cable channels and plastering 80 newspapers nationwide with advertisements.
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Vodafone Group Plc won 5.4 million more  customers over the key Christmas trading quarter, topping  forecasts, and the mobile phone giant on Wednesday reiterated  full-year guidance.
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Indian NGO says that Vodafone investment in mobile services operator Hutchison Essar is in breach of government regulations.
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T-Mobile won the bid at the last minute from Europe's largest mobile operator, Vodafone.