Anil Ambani joins Hutch war
Anil Ambani’s reliance joined the battle to acquire India’s mobile major Hutch-Essar and is pitted against compatriot Essar and UK’s Vodafone, which has reportedly valued the JV at 17-18 billion dollars.
Announcing the move, group chairman Anil Ambani did not venture on what value he would attach for Hutch-Essar Ltd (HEL), which he thought was crucial for the future growth of RCom, already the country’s second largest mobile operator.
Reliance communications jumped into the fray two days after Vodafone’s CEO Arun Sarin and Ravi Ruia, Vice Chairman of Essar, held parleys in Hong Kong with the top brasses of Hutchison Telecom (HTIL) that holds 67 per cent in HEL.
Though Essar has not announced its entry in the race, it has reportedly offered about 11 billion dollars to buyout the foreign partner in HEL, where it has 33 per cent stake.
While Vodafone can enter the venture by just buying out HTIL’s 67 per cent stake, RCom would have to acquire the entire venture to overcome the regulatory issues. But Ambani was confident that all regulatory norms would be adhered to.
Anil chose the occasion of his father Dhirubhai Ambani’s 75th birth anniversary to announce his intention to buyout HEL, for which he said the group had support from global equity funds and banks for offering resources for merger and acquisition plans.
"The commitments are more than what we can consume", he said, adding that commitment was on RCom’s balance sheet and not for a particular venture.
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