Hindujas set sights on Telecom Italia

The Hinduja group is looking at bidding for the majority stake in Telecom Italia, Europe's fifth largest telecommunications group.

Sources close to the development said the Hinduja group, as part of its plans to emerge a big player in the global telecom industry, was looking at the assets of Telecom Italia.

The group might team up with foreign financial institutions, they added. The Hinduja group is involved in finance, transport, energy, infotech, media and communications.

"Things are at a preliminary level now. But if the group decides to pursue this opportunity, it will bid for majority control in the company because it does not operate any firm without having absolute control," said a source in the group who did not wish to be named.

Telecom Italia's biggest shareholder is controlled by Pirelli, the Italian tyre and real estate group. The Pirelli spokesperson could not be contacted.

Marco Tronchetti Provera, Pirelli's chairman who resigned as chairman of Telecom Italia in September, had said he could seek minority investors in Olimpia.

He had also acknowledged he could sell out altogether for the right price. Pirelli owns 80 per cent of Telecom Italia's holding company Olimpia, which has an 18 per cent stake in Telecom Italia.

Blackstone, the private equity group, had said in November that it might be interested in taking a stake in Italy's dominant telecom operator.

Banking sources said the financing of a large deal like Telecom Italia would not be an issue for the $14 billion group which claims to be a debt-free entity. The Hinduja brothers reportedly have a combined wealth of $15 billion.

They said the Hinduja move underscored the growing appetite of Indian business houses for their global counterparts.

The Hinduja group is also in the race for India's fourth largest telecom company, Hutchison Essar, in which British telecom major Vodafone, Reliance Communications and Essar are bidding. The Hinduja group will start examining the Hutchison Essar books on January 24-25.

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BIG DEAL

Hindujas may team up with foreign financial institutions for the deal

Telecom Italia's biggest shareholder is controlled by Pirelli, the Italian tyre and real estate group

Pirelli owns 80 per cent of Telecom Italia's holding firm Olimpia, which has an 18 per cent stake in Telecom Italia