The race for control of Kuwait-headquartered Zain Telecom has quickened with the Indian consortium led by Delhi-based Vavasi group saying it is willing to give a majority stake in the consortium to state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) or Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), depending on which company gets government approval to go ahead with the deal.
The Vavasi group has an agreement with the Kharafi family of Kuwait to pick up its 46 per cent stake in Zain Telecom.
BSNL Chairman Kuldip Goyal, who confirmed to reporters in Geneva yesterday that it had given Vavasi a letter expressing interest in joining the consortium, said the telecom company would like to have more than 50 per cent with management control of the special purpose vehicle (SPV) that will be set up to bid for Zain. This effectively means the telecom utility will control 23 per cent of Zain’s equity.
The proposal has the support of the Department of Telecommunications and Communications Minister A Raja has said it is well within the scope of the PSUs to go for such bids.
A top executive of the Vavasi group said the company was floating an SPV in which half the equity will be held by four partners — Vavasi, two private equity funds and Malaysian billionaire Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhary. The rest of the equity will be held by a telecom company.
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