Birla matches Maxis offer to Tata in Idea

The Aditya Birla group has agreed to match Malaysian telecom giant Maxis Communications Berhad's offer to acquire Tata Industries' 48.14 per cent stake in Idea Cellular for Rs 41 per share, adding up to a total consideration of about Rs 4,000 crore.

As the Idea Cellular shareholder's agreement gives each of the two partners, Tata Industries and the Aditya Birla group, the right of first refusal in case the other wants to exit the joint venture, Tata Industries had asked the Aditya Birla group to match the Maxis offer.

But sources close to the development said the acceptance by the Aditya Birla group to match the offer did not imply any withdrawal of a "termination notice" served by Tata Industries in February this year to its partner for an alleged breach in the shareholders' agreement.

Sanjiv Aga, managing director of Birla Nuvo Ltd and a director on the Idea Cellular board, declined to offer any comment. When contacted, a Tata spokesperson, too, refused to comment.

Talking to journalists at the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, Tata group chairman Ratan Tata said the group's stake in Idea Cellular would be diluted at an appropriate time and value.

Tata Industries' decision to exit from Idea Cellular follows its commitment to the department of telecommunications that it will pull out of the GSM services operator by the end of June this year, even though their was no compulsion in the licence to do so.

Telecom experts said the battle between the two shareholders was essentially over the "valuation" at which Tata Industries would eventually sell its equity stake to the Aditya Birla group and not so much on violation of licence norms or shareholders' agreements.

The battle became messy when the Aditya Birla group sought the DoT's intervention alleging that the Tatas as a group had breached licensing norms at least in seven telecom circles.

The Tatas hit back claiming that the Aditya Birla group had breached various parts of the shareholders' agreement.