Unitech gains 5% on settlement of dispute with Telenor

NEW DELHI: Unitech Ltd surged over 5 per cent in early morning trade on Thursday after the realty major said it has reached an agreement with Norwegian firm Telenor on all outstanding disputes over their telecom joint venture Uninor.

At 10:40 am, Unitech was trading 4.5 per cent higher at Rs 24.20. It has hit a high of Rs 24.45 and a low of Rs 23.50 today. The stock has rallied over 25 per cent so far in the year 2012.

Telenor holds a little over 67% in their JV which offers mobile services under the Uninor brand while Unitech owns the rest.

The terms and conditions of the settlement are not known.

In the month of February, Telenor had served a divorce notice to Unitech and sought compensation from the real estate company after the Supreme Court cancelled 122 mobile permits.

“The Norwegian telecom major had earlier filed an indemnity claim against Unitech and has accused the latter of fraud, and the value of this claim is Rs 6,400 crore with interest,” ET reported.

With the settlement of disputes with Telenor, analysts feel that Unitech Group can now focus on its core business of real estate and monetise its land parcels across the country.