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Money > Business Headlines > Report July 2, 2001 |
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Mauritius arm of Hutchison goes to FIPB for 49 per cent in BarakhambaSurajeet Das Gupta & Partha Ghosh AI Amin Investments, a special purpose vehicle of Hutchison Whampoa based in Mauritius, has applied to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board for a 49 per cent equity stake in Barakhamba Sales and Services Pvt Ltd, for Rs 98 million. The company has been set up primarily with the intention of bidding for the fourth round of cellular licenses, which were completed recently. The total equity capital of the new floated company is around Rs 200 million. The remaining equity in the company is held by Sterling Cellular which runs the Delhi cellular business in which the Essar group has 49 per cent equity with the rest being controlled by Hutchison. Confirming the development Ashim Ghosh who heads the Hutchison business in India said: "We have formed a special purpose vehicle in Mauritius through which we will route the investments. The remaining portion of the equity will be through Sterling Cellular." Barakhamba Sales and Services has bid for the Madras, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka circles in the latest round of bidding. The Hutchison-Essar combine already has presence in various circles, which include the three metros of Delhi, Bombay and Madras, apart from Punjab, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Gujarat (with the Hindujas). The combine already has as many as 850,000 subscribers in its fold. Plans are on the anvil to merge these businesses into a new company, which is expected to be completed in a few months time. Even the circles, which the company might win in the bid in the fourth round will eventually be merged with the proposed holding company. The valuation of the merged entity is $1.8 billion. Sources said that the application has been given the go-ahead by the department of telecommunications and will be taken up for consideration by the FIPB at its next meeting slated next month. Barakhamba Sales is one amongst the seven companies, which have bid for the 21 cellular circles on offer from the government. Out of the 57 bids, which were made, the Reliance group bid for 30 with the other bids coming from the Mittals, BPL-Batata combine, Escotel and Indmobile amongst others. YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ:
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