 The
Hinduja group roped in Russian telecom major Altimo
and Qatar Telecom (Q-tel) as partners to bid for acquiring
Hutchison''s 67 per cent stake in GSM operator Hutch-Essar.
Hindujas are one of the four bidders to have put in
their price bids yesterday for the Hutchison stake.
The others are Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group, Vodafone
and the Ruias, who made a conditional offer reserving
their right of first refusal.
Qatar''s
sole telecom service provider is listed on the London,
Doha and Bahrain stock exchanges.
Altimo,
the telecom arm of Russian conglomerate Alfa group,
had earlier told agencies that it was in talks with
"Indian families" to fund them in return for
a minority equity stake in Hutchison-Essar.
Altimo
and its partners have over 120 million subscribers worldwide.
Altimo holds 32.91 per cent voting shares in Russia''s
second largest mobile operator VimpelCom, 25.1 per cent
stake in Russia''s third largest mobile operator MegaFon,
43.48 per cent stake
in Ukraine''s Kyivstar, 29.58 per cent in Russian and
CIS alternative fixed-line operator Golden Telecom and
13.22 per cent in Turkey''s largest mobile operator Turkcell.
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