Vodafone's proposal to acquire Hutch Essar may be delayed again as the law ministry's views on the latest clarifications provided by Hutchison Telecom International Ltd are awaited. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board, which once again forwarded HTIL's voluminous disclosures (dated April 9) to the law ministry, is now likely to meet on April 23.
Government officials hope the ministry is able to submit its opinion to FIPB on the HTIL documents by then.
The latest disclosures include the crucial loan agreements of Hutch Essar MD Asim Ghosh and industrialist Analjit Singh, with the likes of Rabo India Finance Ltd, DSP Merrill Lynch and the guarantees executed with agencies like the IDFC.
The disclosures follow the FIPB asking HTIL for exhaustive details on March 29. In that meeting, the Hong Kong-based HTIL, which has entered into a sale pact with Vodafone for a cash consideration of $11.1 billion for a 67 per cent interest, had provided details regarding the sale of its indirect equity to the mobile phone giant.
Among the key disclosures, HTIL has sought to explain that the equivalent fair market value for Ghosh's and Singh's 12.26 per cent share holding are at $164.51 million and $266.25 million, respectively.
Vodafone, HTIL and the two shareholders have concluded this exercise after protracted negotiations, which saw them assume the future equity valuation of Hutch-Essar at $25 billion.
Significantly, on the question of the mismatch between the subscription option period and the loan period, HTIL has said that none of Ghosh's and Singh's companies are expected to receive any cash flow from Hutch-Essar before 2013.
It is on this basis that these companies expect to re-finance the loan at maturity, till there is enough cash flow to pay off the debt of $630 million, which, Vodafone assumes, is part of the total debt of $1.96 billion.
In response to another question by the government on the transfer restrictions on Ghosh and Singh's shareholding, HTIL has also said that while they have the right to sell their shareholding, both had given the company an undertaking that they will not sell without the consent of the HTIL group.
The race for Hutch-Essar: Complete coverage
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