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Strategies & Market Trends : India Coffee House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (3981)	4/1/1999 2:24:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12475

Warburg to take 20 pc in Bharti Televentures Anita Mani NEW DELHI, March 31 THE US private equity fund management firm, Warburg Pincus, has decided to pick up a 20 per cent stake in Bharti Televentures, in a deal valued at $70 millions (around Rs. 300 crores), sources close to the transaction confirmed here on Wednesday. Bharti Televentures is the group holding company for all telecom ventures. The investment will go towards funding new ventures in cellular and fixed line services, the sources said. Post-transaction, the Mittals of Bharti Telecom will be left with a 65 per cent stake in Bharti Televentures, down from 80 per cent, while Telecom Italia's holding will go down from 20 per cent to 15 per cent. Warburg Pincus, which is now under the fold of the US investment bank, CSFB, has made equity investments in a few consumer goods companies in India. The investment, finalised recently, will be taken up for Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval shortly. The new holding structure will be within the ambit of the Government investment policy for telecom services ventures, which allows companies to float holding companies or special purpose vehicles (SPVs) with up to 49 per cent foreign equity. The Warburg Pincus investment represents an infusion of fresh equity in the company and not a buy-out of existing stakes of the current promoters. However, the holdings of both Bharti as well as Telecom Italia will reduce proportionately with the expansion of Bharti Televentures' equity base from the current level of Rs. 200 crores. The Bharti Telecom group has consolidated holdings in telecom service ventures through Bharti Televentures, which holds 51 per cent equity in both Bharti Cellular which runs the 'Airtel' cellular service in Delhi and Bharti Telenet, which runs the Himachal Pradesh cellular and the Madhya Pradesh basic services operations. Around Rs. 1,000 crores has been invested in both operations.