Malaysia’s Maxis Communications Bhd. has held preliminary discussions with bankers representing Sistema JSFC about the sale of its Indian unit Aircel Ltd. to the Russian firm, the Economic Times reported Wednesday, citing an executive close to Maxis.
The executive said Maxis will “listen to offers in the wake of regulatory and policy uncertainty” in India, according to the report.
Maxis Communications owns 74% of Aircel, with the balance held by India’s Sindya Securities and Investments Pvt. Ltd.
Sistema has an Indian venture, Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd., in which it owns a 56.68% stake. The remaining Sistema Shyam stake is held by the Shyam Group and the Russian government.
This comes after India’s Supreme Court in February ordered the cancellation of 122 licenses issued in 2008 to several companies including the local units of Sistema and Maxis following complaints of corruption in their allotment, and directed for bandwidth auctions afresh. The license cancellation order is effective Sept. 7.
Source: Total Tele