New Delhi: While continuing its due diligence, British telecom major Vodafone on Saturday said it in Davos would submit a formal offer to its takeover target in India, Hutch-Essar, in the second week of February.
Vodafone was the first player to announce its intention about acquiring Hutch-Essar and started studying the books of Hutch- Essar Ltd (HEL) last month.
The British company is focusing on emerging markets for growth and hence is pursuing acquisition of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecom's 67 per cent stake in the venture.
Last month, Sarin flew came to New Delhi to hold parleys with key Cabinet ministers and HEL officials about Vodafone's plans.
He also met Sunil Mittal, chief of Bharti Airtel, in which Vodafone holds 9.9 per cent stake. Mittal had earlier said that he was open to the idea of Vodafone exiting Bharti by selling its stake in the open market.
During his India visit, Sarin had also offered to partner Ruias-promoted Essar, the Indian partner with 33 per cent stake in HEL.
However, Essar too is keen on acquiring control of the venture. Besides Essar, the other players interested in the HEL buyout include Reliance Communications, Maxis Communications and the Hinduja Group.
Early this week, an official of Egypt's Orascom said that his company did not rule itself out from the race for HEL.
Besides, Russian telecom player Altimo too had evinced interest in HEL, India's fourth largest mobile player.
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