Bahrain Telecommunications Co. (BATELCO) sold its stake in an Indian mobile-phone operator after the nation’s top court last week canceled licenses in a corruption probe.
Batelco, as the Manama, Bahrain-based company is known, sold its entire 42.7 percent stake in STel Pvt. to Sky City Foundation Ltd. for $174.5 million, it said in a statement yesterday. The Middle Eastern phone company and Dubai-based Millennium Private Equity invested $225 million in the Indian venture when they entered the country in January 2009.
The apex court last we-ek cancelled 122 licences, including six of STel, on grounds of irregularity in allotments during the tenure of A Raja as telecom minister. “This is part of an earlier understanding with the Indian partner to exit, given the circumstances surrounding the 2G probe in India over the past 12 months,” Batelco said in an announcement.
We can say that the long-winding 2G scam and the recent Supreme Court order to cancel 122 licences has claimed its first casualty. However, Batelco has not ruled out a return to the Indian market. Its statement, in fact, quoted chief executive Shaikh Mohamed bin Isa Al Khalif as saying it was already scouting for “investment opportunities to participate in the Indian telecom market.”
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