Birla set to buy Tata's stake in Idea

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The group said it would buy the stake from the Tata business group for about Rs. 4400 crore ($ 1 billion), taking the Birla group's stake in Idea to 98.3 percent.

Subsequently it would sell about 33 percent stake in Idea to financial investors, bringing down the group's stake to 65 percent, a statement from the group said.

The Aditya Birla Nuvo (ABNL) board met on Monday to discuss the issue, following which the announcment was formally made. The agenda is simple - to match the offer made by Malaysia's Maxis for buying out the Tatas from Idea.

Maxis had offered about Rs. 40.50 per share. Under the shareholder agreement, the other partner in the company - the Birla group - has the first right of refusal, which they are now exercising.

The Birla group will now withdraw all the complaints against the Tata group from the department of telecommunications (DoT).

Tatas own 108,78,38,878 shares in Idea. Therefore, their buying price is about Rs. 40.50 per share.

Mr. C. Sivasankaran, who has 1.7 percent equity shares in Idea, has sold his take to an unnamed foreign institutional investor for about Rs. 150 crore fetching a price of about Rs. 39 per share, sources said.

With this, Mr. Sivasankaran will completely exit the GSM business.

Earlier, he sold Aircel, which was an operator in Chennai and Tamil Nadu, to Malaysia-based Maxis for $ 1.1 billion. Sivasankaran's interest remains only in CDMA services now as he recently bought 9.99 percent equity in Tata Teleservices (TTSL).

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