The high-profile bidding war for control of Hutch-Essar could intensify with reports in the British media suggesting that Indian partner Ruias have received funding pledges worth up to $25 billion to buy out foreign stakeholder Hutchison Telecom.

Essar has lined up Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, Lehman Brothers and Citigroup as lead arrangers for funding a takeover bid for India's fourth-largest mobile player Hutchison-Essar, the Financial Times reported. FT quoted unnamed people familiar with the matter as saying Essar has "received funding pledges worth $20-25 billion," but is yet to decide whether to make a formal offer.

Meanwhile, top officials of another potential bidder Maxis of Malaysia are believed to be in Hong Kong for talks with Hutchison Telecom International Ltd (HTIL) regarding a revised offer to purchase its Indian business, sources said.

The visit follows after Maxis' initial offer of $13.5 billion was reportedly rejected as the Hong Kong-based firm thought the valuation was below expectations.

A Maxis spokesperson was not available for comments.

FT also quoted "people close to talks related to rival bids" as saying they were sceptical about the ability of Essar, which has an enterprise value of $15 billion, to raise that level of financing for a proposed deal.

"The move underscores Essar's potential as a serious bidder for Hutchison Telecom International's (HTIL) 67 per cent stake in their Indian joint venture, an outcome that would be bad news for rival bidders Vodafone and Reliance Communications," the paper said.

The FT report also said that people familiar with Essar's plans believe Hutchison-Essar, with debt of only about $1 billion, could carry some of the burden.

Citigroup, one of the lead fund arrangers for Essar as reported by FT, has been previously reported to be involved in raising funds for Reliance Communications.

RCom Chairman Anil Ambani had said last week that Hutch-Essar was a potential takeover target, while world's largest mobile player Vodafone has also announced its interest in acquiring Hutch-Essar.

JM Morgan Stanley, the Indian subsidiary of the US-based financial major, is an advisor to Essar Group.

Earlier last week, the Financial Times reported that Essar had made an initial approach to HTIL for its stake worth $11 billion, valuing Hutch-Essar at about $16.4 billion, as compared to an offer from Vodafone valuing the company at up to $18 billion.

"Vodafone, in particular, was increasingly playing a high stakes game," FT reported, quoting people close to talks related to rival bids. The UK-based operator was keen to hammer out a deal with Hutchison even without co-operation from Essar, it said.

Essar and Standard Chartered declined to comment, while Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers were unavailable for comment, the FT report said.