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April 28, 2001
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Money > Business Headlines > Report April 28, 2001 |
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Birla-Tata-AT&T in talks with FIsBaburajan K Birla-Tata-AT&T, the cellular services provider, has initiated discussions with domestic financial institutions for a possible offloading of stake. The talks are part of the company's fund raising programme for expansion plans. The merged cellular entity is looking at restructuring its debt and raising funds worth around Rs 12 billion from FIs and banks to fund the proposed expansion. Sanjeev Aga, president and chief executive officer of Birla-Tata-AT&T, said: "We are open to every option that is available before us. I do not want to specifically comment on any one at this point of time." "However, as Tatas and Birla-AT&T had two sets of lender consortium pre-merger, we are exploring the possibilities of combining the consortium for the merged entity. So a debt restructuring, among other things, is on the cards. We are waiting for the completion of the merger to finalise the debt-equity structure," Aga said. Top FI sources confirmed that domestic institutions, including the Industrial Development Bank of India and ICICI, have shown interest in picking up a stake in Birla-Tata-AT&T. FIs and Birla-Tata-AT&T have not yet reached any agreement as discussions are in preliminary stage, said the sources. According to the sources, Birla-Tata-AT&T is planning to bid for additional mobile circles as a fourth cellular operator. At present, it has operations in Maharashtra (excluding Bombay), Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh with a subscriber base of around 300,000. The merged entity, which plans to raise about $125-150 million through a maiden public issue, is looking at a subscriber base of about 700,000 within a short period. The merger of Tata Cellular and Birla-AT&T is expected to be completed shortly and will be effective from January 1, 2001. As part of the merger, a small integration committee has already been set up with equal representation from the three firms. Aga is expected to drive the integration of HR, technical, business and other aspects of businesses. Powered by YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ:
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