Hutch board yet to decide on HEL stake sale

NEW DELHI: The Hutchison Telecommunications International (HTIL) board met on Monday, and is learnt to have discussed the sale of the company���s 67% in Hutch-Essar (HEL). The HTIL board, however, did not take any decision in the absence of formal bids from all the contenders, sources told ET.

���The HTIL board took stock of the situation,��� a source said, but refused to divulge additional details. While sources said that the HTIL board in its meet, had discussed the indicative offers from the three leading suitors ��� UK���s Vodafone Group, Reliance Communications and the Hindujas ��� this could, however, not be independently confirmed.

When contacted, an HTIL spokesperson declined to comment on the meeting, and said: ���We do not discuss board matters.��� Shares of HTIL closed at HKD 18.50 after surging as high as HKD 18.74, unchanged from its previous close on Friday.

The HTIL board during its meet was expected to finalise the bid process, before inviting potential suitors to place their bids over the next couple of weeks. Sources also added that the HTIL board was likely to call for another meet to discuss the issue further. It is also learnt that many members of the HTIL board participated in the meet telephonically.

Reliance Communications, which is amongst the contenders to acquire HEL is scheduled to hold its board meet on Tuesday to discuss its quarterly results. Vodafone too will hold a conference call with analysts and investors on Tuesday to announce its key performance indicators for the quarter-ended December 2006. The buy-out of HTIL���s 67% stake in HEL is likely to figure prominently in both these meets.

HTIL has made no official comments on the issue following its statement in December that it had set a floor price of $14 billion for its 67% stake in HEL. It had also said that it had been approached by ���several��� players to buy-out its stake in HEL, while adding that ���there was assurance that a sale may result from these approaches���.