Srinagar, Jan 12: Bharti Airtel Limited, Asia’s leading integrated telecom services provider, today announced that it has agreed to acquire 70 per cent stake in Warid Telecom, Bangladesh, currently a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dhabi Group. Warid Telecom offers mobile services across all the 64 districts of Bangladesh and has a total customer base of over 2.9 million, a spokesman of the company in an e-mail to Greater Kashmir said.
Under the agreement, Bharti Airtel will make a fresh investment of USD 300 million to rapidly expand the operations of Warid Telecom and will have management and board control of the company.
This is the largest investment in Bangladesh by an Indian company. Dhabi Group will continue as a strategic partner retaining 30% shareholding and have their nominees on the Board of the Company.
The acquisition by Bharti Airtel would be partly by purchase of existing shares held in Warid Telecom International Limited by Dhabi Group for a nominal consideration and balance by way of issue of fresh shares at par. The new funding will be utilised for expansion of the network, both for coverage and capacity, and introduction of innovative products and services. As a result of this additional investment, the overall investment in the company will be in the region of USD 1 billion.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:30:00 GMT
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