Dec 19 2006
Maxis Communications Bhd (KLSE : MAXIS, stock-code 5051) has made a bid for a controlling stake in India’s Hutchison Essar (http://www.hutch.co.in/), the fourth largest mobile operator, in an effort to further stamp its presence in the Indian market, according to press reports from India. Maxis’ bid is the second made by the Malaysian company after its initial US$13.5 billion bid with US private equity firm Texas Pacific Group was rejected.
Hutchison Essar, with over 22 million subscribers, is 52%-owned by Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecommunications International (HTIL) and is valued at around US$14 billion (RM49.71 billion). It was reported that Egypt’s Orascom (CAI : ORTE) and India’s Reliance Communications (BOM : 532712) had submitted bids for Hutchison Essar after talk of the impending exit of HTIL from the Indian market before 2008.
The Financial Express of India reported that Maxis had engaged Standard Chartered as its adviser for the bid. It also said Reliance had tied up with four US private equity firms for its bid. The addition of Hutchison Essar to Maxis, which already owns 75% of Aircel Ltd, would make the company the third largest mobile operator in India with over 26 million subscribers.
India with a population of 1.1 billion people and only 10% penetration is a growing market and this is a very viable market for Maxis with the potential of the voice market. Maxis can choose to grow organically with Aircel (currently contributes 9% to Maxis’ turnover) but this bid could be for a long-term investment.
On Dec 6, Maxis appointed Sandip Das of Hutchison Essar as chief executive officer of the company’s Malaysian operations from Jan 15, 2007. It had said then that Sandip would also play a key role in developing strategies for Maxis’ operations in India.
|
|
December 19th, 2006 by financetwitter
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Comments
Add your comment now.
Leave a Reply