Telenor Buys Out Indian Partner in Uninor for Nominal Amount

Published on: 11th Oct 2012

­India's Unitech has settled its acrimonious dispute with Norway's Telenor and sold its 32.75% stake in their Indian mobile network joint venture, Uninor to Telenor for a nominal amount.

The two companies agreed to support the transfer of the business in Unitech Wireless (Uninor) to a new entity (NewCo) controlled by Telenor.

With immediate effect, Unitech nominees will withdraw from the Uninor Board and all special shareholder rights stands suspended. Subsequent to a successful business transfer and spectrum auction, all disputes and claims between the parties shall stand withdrawn / concluded.

Telenor is also preparing to participate in the upcoming 2G spectrum auction through this new entity, but said that it will take a final decision on whether to participate at a later date.

Under Indian Law, a foreign company cannot own more than 74% of a mobile network, so Telenor will also need to seek a new local partner. However, this time Telenor will be in control from the start and will be aiming to avoid the problems caused when it bought into an existing company.

Earlier this year, Telenor wrote off the remaining value of the Indian subsidiary and had started suing Unitech over the way it secured the original licenses in 2008 before Telenor bought a majority stake in its mobile network division.

The settlement of the dispute also ends that court case.

 

Tags: [unitech]  [uninor]  [telenor]  [India]