The Indian markets opened flat mirroring flat opening trades in the SGX Nifty and mixed opening across major Asian bourses. The US markets, after moving mostly higher over the course of the three previous sessions, showed a lack of direction throughout the trading session on Wednesday. The lackluster performance came as traders remained uncertain about the nearterm outlook for the markets. Meanwhile, the European markets extended their recent gains to a fourth consecutive session on Wednesday. The larger than expected decrease in German business confidence added to speculation that the ECB might cut rates in its upcoming meeting scheduled next week on Thursday. Meanwhile, Indian markets were closed yesterday on account of a holiday. On Tuesday, Indian markets reversed early losses to end largely unchanged ahead of the F&O expiry slated for Thursday. The Indian economy has bottomed out and growth will pick up to 6.4% in the current fiscal, PMEAC Chairman Rangarajan said while releasing the Economic Review for 2012-13, helping spur some buying late in the session.
Bharti Airtel Limited ("Bharti") and Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited ("Reliance Jio") have signed an Indefeasible Right to Use (IRU) Agreement, under which Bharti will provide Reliance Jio data capacity on its i2i submarine cable. i2i connects India to Singapore and is wholly owned by Bharti. The state-of-the-art cable consists of eight fiber pairs using DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing), capable of supporting multiple terabits of capacity per fiber pair. Its landing points are at Chennai in India and Tuas in Singapore. Reliance Jio will utilize a dedicated fiber pair on i2i. The high speed link will enable Reliance Jio to extend its network and service reach to customers across Asia Pacific region. It will connect Reliance Jio directly to the world's major business hubs and ISPs, thereby, helping the operator to meet the bandwidth demand and provide ultra fast data experience to its customers. The deal marks Reliance Jio's continued efforts to rapidly grow and expand both its international and domestic network and infrastructure by building an ecosystem with multiple carriers and service providers. Bharti and Reliance Jio will continue to build on this strategic framework and consider other mutual areas of cooperation and development to leverage their respective assets towards offering their customers a much richer experience.Shares of Bharti Airtel Ltd was last trading in BSE at Rs.299.45, down by Rs.1.30 or 0.43%. The stock hit an intraday high of Rs.307.60 and low of Rs.296.80. The total traded quantity was 3.99 lakhs compared to 2 week average of 3.29 lakhs. Source: Equity Bulls
Bharti Airtel buys Warid Telecom Uganda, ups Africa reach
Bharti Airtel, the country's largest telco by revenue and customers, signed an agreement to buy rival Warid Telecom Uganda for an undisclosed sum on April 23, reinforcing its position as the second-largest mobile phone firm in Uganda with a 39 per cent market share, just behind market leader MTN, which controls 49 per cent. Though the deal size wasn't disclosed, top executives aware of the matter said Bharti Airtel bought 100% stake from the Abu Dhabi Group, owner of the Warid Telecom, in an all-cash deal. Law firm White & Case advised Warid Telecom Uganda, these executives, who did not wish to be named, added. Financial circles close to the development, however, peg the deal size at roughly $100 million, or Rs 550 crore, but Airtel declined to confirm this. Bharti Airtel's managing director & CEO (International) Manoj Kohli claimed the Warid Uganda deal "is the first inmarket acquisition" in the telco's history. "We believe this market consolidation offers great synergies by bringing together the best of Airtel and Warid to better serve customers in Uganda," he said. Warid Uganda board member Mohammed Nahayan, in turn, claimed the deal with Airtel would offer Warid consumers added benefits "like wider network coverage, access to the most extensive 3G network and world class products and services". The deal with Warid will increase Bharti Airtel's customer base in Uganda by nearly 61 per cent to 7.4 million from the present 4.6 million. The country has over 16 million mobile customers and the other key operators are Uganda Telecom and Orange Plc. The world's fourth-largest telco by customers, Bharti Airtel, said it had entered into a definitive agreement with the Warid Group to "fully acquire" its Uganda unit. "The pact is subject to regulatory and statutory approvals," both companies said. Warid's 2.8 million customers in Uganda will join Airtel's global network that reaches out to over 269 million subscribers. "They will enjoy benefits of the 'One Airtel' network with lower roaming rates across Africa and South Asiaand also experience benefits of higher 3G speeds and Airtel Money services," Bharti Airtel said in a statement. Bharti Airtel is currently organised into two separate units — India and South Asia, which accounts for 75 per cent of revenues, and Africa, where it has operations in 17 countries. Last August, Bharti concluded executing the "One Airtel structure" in India and South Asia. Three years ago, the Sunil Mittal-promoted company acquired a 70 per cent stake in Warid Telecom, which was then the fourth largest mobile services provider in Bangladesh. Bharti was the first Indian telco to enter Bangladesh. Source: Economic Times
Jet Airways announces strategic alliance with Etihad
Naresh Goyal's Jet Airways and Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad finally enacted a well choreographed tango, clinching the first foreign direct investment (FDI) deal after foreign airlines were allowed part- ownership of their Indian rivals. On Wednesday, the Jet Airways board cleared preferential allotment of shares (at Rs 754 apiece) to Etihad, giving the latter a 24% direct stake in India's second largest airline by market share. Etihad will pay $379 million (about Rs 2,058 crore) for the stake, valuing Jet Airways at $1.57 billion, which is 32% higher than the current market value of the domestic carrier. Etihad will take two board seats even as Goyal will hold 51% stake and remain non-executive chairman of Jet Airways. The Abu Dhabi airline will separately take majority shares in JetPrivilege, the frequent flyer unit of Jet Airways, for $150 million. It has already paid another $70 million to purchase Jet's slots at London's Heathrow airport. The deal also has the potential to make Abu Dhabi the biggest emerging hub for Indian globe-trotters. Jet said it would establish a Gulf gateway in Abu Dhabi and expand its global reach through Etihad. "It's a game-changing opportunity for Etihad, and a game-changing opportunity for India," Kapil Kaul, regional head of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), told Reuters. Late in the evening, India and Abu Dhabi governments as part of bilateral pacts agreed to increase the flying rights between the two countries to approximately 50,000 seats per week from the current 13,600 per week. "This transaction further strengthens the balance sheet of Jet Airways and, more importantly, underpins future revenue streams, which will accelerate our return to sustainable profitability and liquidity," said Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal. Etihad president and chief executive James Hogan added, "It (the deal) is expected to bring immediate revenue growth and cost synergy opportunities, with our initial estimates of a contribution of several hundred million dollars for both airlines over the next five years." Eithad becomes the first big full service global airline to buy into the India story where travel is expected to triple to 159 million in the next 10 years. Earlier this year, Kuala Lumpur based low cost carrier AirAsia announced a joint venture with Tata Group to float a new airline. The multi-layered deal-making was a complex affair aided by a battery of law firms—Economic Laws Practice, Gagrats, Amarchand Mangaldas and DLA Piper—and investment banks Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and HSBC. The transaction is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, which bankers and lawyers expect to come by in the next three months. In the first phase, people familiar with the transaction, said that Goyal will sell 5% of Jet Airways through an offer for sale (OFS) to comply with the new 25% public shareholding norms. Currently, public shareholding in Jet Airways stands at 20%. This is being done as Sebi rules require a company to first adhere to public shareholding norms before making a preferential allotment. Goyal and his family through their holding company Tail Winds hold 80% in Jet currently. The pugnacious Indian aviation entrepreneur founded the airline 21 years ago. It now operates a fleet of 100 aircraft and flies to 73 destinations in India and 20 overseas. People in the legal circles said that the Goyal family will transfer their interests in Tail Winds, which is an overseas corporate body (OCB) incorporated in Isle of Man, a tax haven to their personal names/entities, which will be the new holding company of Jet. This is being done as OCBs are no longer recognized by the RBI and an OCB can't take fresh positions in equity or debt. However, they added, since Tail Winds was given an exemption, the promoter would check with the banking regulator whether they have to the restructure their holding before the launch of the OFS scheme. The deal with Etihad will bring in fresh money to Jet that will be used to retire debt, which stands at $2.3 billion. Set up in 2003, Etihad, with a fleet of 70 Airbus and Boeing aircraft, serves 86 cities in West Asia, Africa, Australia, Asia, US and Europe. "The price is good for Jet. I think Etihad may have paid over the odds slightly, but with Kingfisher out of the picture there is only one full service heavyweight in town, and that's Jet," Sudeep Ghai, partner at consultancy Athena Aviation told Reuters. Source: TOI
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