(The Times of India via NewsEdge) The battle for Hutchison Essar may be nearing an end.
Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecom International (HTIL), which owns 67% of the Indian telecom operator, has conveyed to the bidders that a decision will be taken in a fortnight, sources close to the development said.
Four bidders including UK-based telecom giant Vodafone have submitted bids to Goldman Sachs, the investment banker to the Hong Kong firm.
The other interested parties are Ruias of the Essar group which controls 33% of Hutch Essar, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group-controlled Reliance Communications and Maxis of Malaysia which is jointly bidding with US-based private equity investor Texas Pacific Group.
Industry speculation peg the bids in the range of $13.5 billion to $29 billion.
Reliance Communications, sources said, has offered cash and stock to the seller, while others have offered cash.
Ruias and HTIL are locked in a fight over the definition of the 'first right of refusal."
The Ruias group claims it has the first right of refusal on the sale of Hutchison's stake in the joint venture irrespective of the buyer, the Hong Kong company has a different take on it.
Hutchison officials clarified that this right exits in the limited case of a sale to certain Indian telecom companies and the right is not valid if the buyer is a foreign firm.
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