Friday, December 30, 2005
Business » Infotech
Malaysia's Maxis in JV to buy India's Aircel Ltd
Reuters
Kuala Lumpur, December 30, 2005
Malaysia's biggest cellphone firm, Maxis Communications Bhd, expanded into the fast-growing Indian market on Friday, taking the lead in a $1.08 billion joint-venture takeover of Aircel Ltd.
Aircel Ltd is part of the Aircel group, which has a strong position in southern Tamil Nadu state and has licences to provide services in 12 of 23 areas that make up India's telecoms sector.
Maxis said it would hold 74 per cent of Aircel Ltd and named its Indian joint-venture partner as the Chennai-based ddy family, which controls Chennai-based Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd and owns stakes in a private power company.
Friday's agreement follows several attempts by Aircel's parent, Indian tycoon C Sivasankaran's Sterling Infotech group, to sell a stake in the Aircel business, including bids by Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd and Russian conglomerate AFK Sistema.
© HT Media Ltd. 2005.