Altimo still interested in India

MOSCOW: Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's mobile firm Altimo, which had recently evinced interest in Hutch-Essar, today said it was still looking for potential acquisition opportunities in India.

"We plan to invest over two billion dollars in the next few years into mobile telephony projects in Asian and emerging markets like India, Indonesia and Vietnam," said, Altimo Vice President Kirill Babaev.

Altimo sees these markets as highly prospective from an investors viewpoint, with large population, low mobile penetration and high economic growth rates, he added.

The company's Chief Financial Officer Teijo Pankko had recently said at a telecom conference in London that it was in talks with the Essar and Hinduja groups about a potential role in the acquisition of Hutch-Essar.

When asked if Altimo, which is estimated to be holding 14 billion dollars worth telecom assets, was still looking for acquisition opportunities in the Indian telecom space, Babaev said: "We are interested in the market, but it is too early to name exact projects."

Altimo said in a separate statement issued today it has borrowed 1.5 billion dollars from Deutsche Bank AG to expand in fast growing markets like India.

"We are going to use the funds for expanding our investment projects on the emerging markets of Eurasia," Babaev said.

Last month, British giant Vodafone bagged the deal with a cash offer of 11.1 billion dollars for controlling stake in Hutch-Essar from Hong Kong based Hutchison Telecom, after outbidding rival offers from Essar Group, Reliance Communications and Hindujas among other bidders.