Birlas complete Idea buy

The Aditya Birla group today completed the acquisition of Tata group's 48.14 per cent stake in the GSM service provider Idea Cellular.

The Birlas had signed an agreement in April this year to acquire the stake for Rs 4,406 crore, priced at Rs 40.50 a share. Post the deal, the Birlas' stake in the company will increase to 98.3 per cent.

After the completion of the deal, Aditya Birla Nuvo holds 35.7 per cent, Birla TMT Holdings 44.9 per cent, Grasim Industries 7.6 per cent and Hindalco Industries holds 10.1 per cent stake in the GSM provider, the Aditya Birla group said in a release here today.

According to Birla group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, "The Idea name has come to stand for value and innovation in the eyes of millions of subscribers. We shall raise the bar and aim that Idea represents the very best across all product and service categories."

Earlier, Birlas had committed to invest around Rs 5,000 crore in the company and add five more circles, increasing the number of circles the company operates in to 16.

The company was also aggressive in increasing its subscriber base. The Birla group had also stated that it will offload over 33 per cent to investors and was believed to be in talks with a clutch of investors.

Foreign investors like Blackstone, Carlyle and Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (IDFC) were believed to be in the race, while Malaysia's state investment firm Khazanah Nasional Bhd had also evinced interest in acquiring the 33 per cent stake.

Idea was floated jointly by Tatas, Birlas and AT&T Wireless of the US as Birla Tata AT&T, and subsequently AT&T exited from the venture. Tatas had also exited from the venture in April this year, as the group wanted to focus on its CDMA business.