TCIL plans to offload 30% stake in Hexacom

By siliconindia   |   Friday, 06 February 2004, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: State-owned Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd on Thursday said it plans to offload its entire 30 per cent equity in cellular company Hexacom, and is also looking at opportunities to reinvest the amount realised in the process in overseas ventures. "We plan to shed our 30 per cent stake in Hexacom but we also need to identify the avenues for reinvestment" TCIL chairman and managing director GD Ghaiha told reporters on the sidelines of a newsconference. Ghaiha said TCIL expected many takers for its 30 per cent stake, although the right of first refusal lay with Shyam Telecom, which is a shareholder in Hexacom, a cellular service provider in Rajasthan. He said the TCIL board had recently given its go-ahead for offloading its equity in Hexacom and estimated that the entire process of offloading the equity in Hexacom could take about six months. "Although there is already a benchmark available for us, we would determine the market rate of our equity," he said pointing out that Hexacom was a debt free company. It may be recalled that last month Bharti Group said its earlier offer to buy Canadian TIW's 27.5 per cent stake in Hexacom has been terminated as one of the shareholders (Shyam) has exercised its first right of refusal.