who has acquired HUTCH in INDIA recently?

Answer 1

Hutch-Essar's ownership issue

More controversy has hit the Hutch-Essar deal. This time, it centres around Hutch-Essar's ownership structure, reports CNBC-TV18.

The bid for Hutch is clouded in smoke. Essar's decision to turn buyer has already confused the deal and now sources close some bidders told CNBC-TV18 that Hutch's ownership structure could further complicate matters. The focus is on the shareholdings of Analjit Singh and Hutch India's MD, Asim Ghosh.

Combined, the two own 12.2% in Hutch-Essar, a vital stake that contributes in helping the indian ownership of the company meet the minimum 26% requirement. Both Singh & Ghosh hold their individual stakes in Hutchison Essar through a layered structure of four investment companies, the third layer of which is Singh's ND Callus and Ghosh's Centrino Trading.

CNBC-TV18 learns that Hutchison Telecom has a call option to subscribe to 97.5% of the shares of both these companies at Par.Some bidders seem to be interpret this as Hutch having effective control over the two investment companies.

Besides in it's SEC filing Hutchison has stated that "The JV companies and Hutchison Essar will continue to be consolidated as subsidiaries of HTIL under US GAAP following the re-organisation, due to applicability of the relevant accounting rule and HTIL effectively taking the majority of the economic risks and rewards."
Sources close to bidders are asking whether this accounting consolidation combined with the call option to subscribe at par could imply that the two companies said to be owned by Analjit Singh and Asim Ghosh are actually owned and controlled by Hutch? If it does, they worry that the 12.2% stake would be counted as foreign ownership and that could push the total foreign ownership to almost 90%, well above the 74% regulatory limit.

Hutch refused to comment on the matter, but sources close to Hutch told CNBC-TV18 that accounting consolidation under US GAAP does not imply ownership. The rules require Hutch to consolidate all entities that may cause economic risk or reward to Hutchison Telecom. And since Hutch has extended substantial loans to the investment companies it has consolidated their accounts.

As regards the call option that Hutch has on 97.5% equity of the investment companies, sources say it does not represent ownership or control until the option is exercised. And the option cannot be exercised in any event if it results in a breach of the sectoral cap. They explain that the call option is structured at par value as part of the security structure that Hutch has created to protect its loan exposure to these entities. Net net, Hutch sources insist the holding is in Indian hands.

In this war of words the verdict from accounting experts is mixed. CNBC-TV18 spoke to a few who said - the consolidation under US Gaap is an accounting fiction and should not have implications under indian telecom guidelines. Many reserved their opinion on the call option, saying it depended on how the option was worded.

But will that be explanation enough for some of the bidders? Or will this new angle make an already challenged deal more difficult to pull off?




The Irish Independent reports that Vodafone strategy director Gerry Fahy has not ruled out further job losses at the mobile phone operator in addition to the 100 positions that are expected to be lost as part of an ongoing review of the company's operations.

Commenting yesterday on the day of Vodafone Ireland's third-quarter results, he said: "That is speculative - the focus at the moment is the company's current review" which is due to end in February.

Mr Fahy would not say what areas of the company would be affected by the 100 losses. "The review is ongoing, so I can't comment beyond that. But obviously we are looking at areas in the company where resourcing is heavier than needed."

The company employs about 1,800 people in Dublin, Dundalk and in its retail outlets, including contract staff.

Redundancies are looming despite Vodafone Ireland, one of the most profitable subsidiaries in the Vodafone group, reporting that it nearly doubled its pre-Christmas customer figures in the three months ended December 2006 to 59,000 compared with the same period in the previous year.

This brings the company's total customer figures to 2.178m in Ireland. However, the company also announced a 9pc drop in average monthly revenues generated per customer, or average revenue per user (ARPU), to €45.60.

Answer 2

Orange morphs to Hutch in Mumbai December 8th, 2005 A long awaited change has finally happened. Orange, the largest Mobile service provider in Mumbai has finally integrated all their Mobile operations in India under the common brandname ‘Hutch‘. Perhaps has something to do with Hutchison-Essar’s buyout of BPL-Mobile. I remember reading something about some brandname issues with Orange and I guess France Telecom which had some rights to the brandname (which was also a stakeholder in BPL Mobile) I still remember the excitement that Hutch’s launch in Chennai a few years ago had caused and I was one of the first set of converts into Hutch then However, I must say that I am rather dissapointed with their communication strategy surrounding the brandname change. I would have expected them to start their communication much earlier and to make a louder noise in a city as huge as Mumbai. However, they had a few hoardings around town (much lower than what you would normally expect Orange to use under normal circumstances) and on the day of the change - an ad in The Times of India Rather mysterious I should say And what even more funny is the fact that Hutch Mumbai is using a funny / shocking shade of Pink for its logo, as opposed to the Orange used in the rest of the country. I find this even more funny, why would they do this and risk having to confuse their users and perhaps having to spend more money in branding and communication ?

Answer 3

Hey buddy, no budy has till now acquired Hutch. It is in bidding stage, and Vodafone, and many others are in line to purchase by bidding for it. Hope to get the news of the new owner within a week. Ok?

Answer 4

vodafone has acquired hutch

Answer 5

its no one, but telecom gaint "VODAFONE" of U.K has acquired it for a huge sum of 18.6 billion dollars.

Answer 6

Vodafone !!!
thank-god Reliance did not!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 7

VODAFONE...IN $20 BN...

Answer 8

vodaphone