Siva, Temasek may buy into Tata Tele

Posted on | January 25, 2006 |

ET reports that C Sivasankaran is close to buying a stake in Tata Teleservices (TTSL). It is believed that he may buy just under 10%, because he has a no-compete agreement with Maxis. Also, Singapore-based equity fund Temasek is believed to be in negotiations to pick up 9.9% in TTSL.

In all, Tata group may be willing to divest up to 26% stake to investors for about $420-430m, according to the industry sources. The enterprise valuation of TTSL (including debt) is said to be in the range of $2.7-2.8bn.

While banking sources claimed that the deal had already been signed and is likely to be announced shortly, other informed sources said that the negotiations were still on. Despite several attempts, Mr Sivasankaran could not be reached for comment.

While the Tata-Temasek talks have been public knowledge for some time now, Mr Sivasankaran is the dark horse in the deal. He had been closely involved with the Tatas’ telecom venture earlier in an advisory capacity.

Earlier, a proposal by Temasek subsidiary Singapore Technologies Telemedia to acquire a 47.7% stake in Idea Cellular, along with Telekom Malaysia, had failed to get the necessary approvals since another Temasek subsidiary, Singapore Telecom, has a significant stake in Bharti Tele-Ventures.

Also Read:
Maxis and Reddys buy out Aircel
SK Telecom ends alliance talks with Tata Tele

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