July 19 (Reuters) – No. 2 Indian telecoms firm Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO) said on Monday it added 2.8 million mobile customers in June, taking its total number of customers to more than 110 million. (Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy)
Etisalat close to buying 26 pct in Reliance Comm: report
July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
(Reuters) – Emirates Telecommunications ETEL.AD (Etisalat) is close to buying 26 percent in Indian telecoms Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO), the Financial Times said on Monday, sending Reliance shares up nearly 4 percent.
Citing people familiar with the negotiations, the newspaper said the deal was estimated to be worth $3 billion.
The two groups are also considering merging Reliance Comm, India’s No. 2 mobile operator, with Swan Telecom, the Indian company in which Etisalat holds a 45 percent stake, it said.
Reliance Comm and Etisalat could not be immediately reached for comment.
Shares in Reliance Comm, valued by the market at $8.3 billion, jumped as much as 3.9 percent on the report in a subdued Mumbai market.
An alliance between the two groups could be completed as soon as mid-August, the Financial Times reported, citing a person close to the matter. Another person told the paper it could take up to the end of the year. Reliance Comm and Etisalat declined to comment on any specific negotiations, the paper said.
A successful outcome hinges on how fast Etisalat can free itself of the stake in Swan Telecom, a joint venture it acquired in 2008, as Indian regulations do not allow one company to own more than 10 per cent in two telecom groups, the paper said.
Several potential suitors cited in media reports based on unnamed sources have denied being in talks with Reliance Comm, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani.
So far, only Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat has acknowledged that it is considering a deal with Reliance Comm, the only major local cellular carrier without a foreign strategic investor in the world’s fastest-growing mobile market.
Anil Ambani has been in dealmaking mode since ending a pact in May with his long-estranged brother, Mukesh Ambani, that forbade the two from competing on the other’s turf, freeing Anil to bring new investors into his debt-laden company.
That pact had enabled Mukesh Ambani, the world’s fourth-richest man, to assert a right of first refusal two years ago that blocked a deal between Reliance Comm and South Africa’s MTN (MTNJ.J).
Last month, Reliance Comm agreed to merge its telecoms communication towers business with that of GTL Infrastructure Ltd (GTLI.BO) in a deal that a source said would cut its debt by $3.9 billion.
By 0443 GMT, shares in Reliance Comm were up 2.3 percent at 191.40 rupees, while the main BSE index .BSESN was flat.
(Reporting by Pratish Narayanan and Tony Munroe in Mumbai; Stanley Carvalho in Abu Dhabi; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)
UPDATE 1-Etisalat close to buying 26 pct in Reliance Comm-FT
July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
MUMBAI, July 19 (Reuters) – Emirates Telecommunications ETEL.AD (Etisalat) is close to buying 26 percent in Indian telecoms Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO), the Financial Times said on Monday, sending Reliance shares up nearly 4 percent.
Citing people familiar with the negotiations, the newspaper said the deal was estimated to be worth $3 billion.
The two groups are also considering merging Reliance Comm, India’s No. 2 mobile operator, with Swan Telecom, the Indian company in which Etisalat holds a 45 percent stake, it said.
Reliance Comm and Etisalat could not be immediately reached for comment.
Shares in Reliance Comm, valued by the market at $8.3 billion, jumped as much as 3.9 percent on the report in a subdued Mumbai market.
An alliance between the two groups could be completed as soon as mid-August, the Financial Times reported, citing a person close to the matter. Another person told the paper it could take up to the end of the year. Reliance Comm and Etisalat declined to comment on any specific negotiations, the paper said.
A successful outcome hinges on how fast Etisalat can free itself of the stake in Swan Telecom, a joint venture it acquired in 2008, as Indian regulations do not allow one company to own more than 10 per cent in two telecom groups, the paper said.
Several potential suitors cited in media reports based on unnamed sources have denied being in talks with Reliance Comm, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani.
So far, only Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat has acknowledged that it is considering a deal with Reliance Comm, the only major local cellular carrier without a foreign strategic investor in the world’s fastest-growing mobile market.
Anil Ambani has been in dealmaking mode since ending a pact in May with his long-estranged brother, Mukesh Ambani, that forbade the two from competing on the other’s turf, freeing Anil to bring new investors into his debt-laden company.
That pact had enabled Mukesh Ambani, the world’s fourth-richest man, to assert a right of first refusal two years ago that blocked a deal between Reliance Comm and South Africa’s MTN (MTNJ.J).
Last month, Reliance Comm agreed to merge its telecoms communication towers business with that of GTL Infrastructure Ltd (GTLI.BO) in a deal that a source said would cut its debt by $3.9 billion.
By 0443 GMT, shares in Reliance Comm were up 2.3 percent at 191.40 rupees, while the main BSE index .BSESN was flat. (Reporting by Pratish Narayanan and Tony Munroe in Mumbai; Stanley Carvalho in Abu Dhabi; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)
Reliance Comm’s Etisalat talks more advanced than with MTN-srce
June 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment
June 3 (Reuters) – Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO), weighing options to tie up with a foreign partner, is further along in discussions with Abu Dhabi’s Etisalat (ETEL.AD) than it is with South Africa’s MTN (MTNJ.J), a source familiar with the matter said.
“Both look fairly reasonable, but the one which is from Abu Dhabi looks a little bit more advanced,” a person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Thursday, declining to be identified.
However, another person familiar with the situation said that, with regard to Etisalat, it was “early days. No deal imminent.”
Reliance Comm said on Wednesday it had received proposals from international telecoms firms to buy a strategic equity stake, after a newspaper report said Etisalat was eyeing a 25 percent stake for 180 billion rupees ($3.9 billion), implying a sharp premium. [nSGE65105P]
Separately, India’s Economic Times newspaper on Thursday reported Reliance Comm is considering a merger with South Africa’s MTN, with which the Indian firm had initiated tie-up talks in 2008 in an ultimately thwarted deal.
(Reporting by Tony Munroe and Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)
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Malay vet extends service to pet owner by groping, sucking her breasts
September 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Kuala Lumpur, Sep 9 (ANI): A Malay kindergarten teacher, who took her feverish pet squirrel to a veterinary clinic for treatment, had her breasts groped instead by the attending veterinarian.
According to the Harian Metro, the veterinarian had asked the 27-year old woman to place the squirrel inside her blouse to keep it warm, given its “erratic body temperature”.
But the squirrel got stuck on her bra strap, when the 52-year-old veterinarian asked her to take the animal out.
While helping the woman remove the squirrel, the veterinarian saw her breasts, started praising her figure, and allegedly told her to take care of her body and “beautiful breasts”.
Ampang OCPD Asst Comm Abd Jalil Hasan said that the veterinarian later began to demonstrate to her how to massage her breasts.
“He then took advantage by groping and sucking the victim’s breasts. The victim struggled to release herself before the doctor finally let her go,” the Star Online quoted him as saying.
“He told her she need not pay for the squirrel’s treatment and asked her to come again. But she decided to lodge a police report,” he added.
ACP Abd Jalil Hasan added that the veterinarian was arrested on September 7.
However, the squirrel died shortly after returning home. (ANI)
4 men gang-raped teen for 12 days after she accepted lift
June 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Kuala Lumpur, Jun 19 (ANI): A teenager, who accepted a lift from four strangers on her way home, was gang-raped and held captive by them for 12 days in a house in Kuantan.
According to Sin Chew Daily, the men approached the 19-year-old girl as she and her friend went their separate ways after a watching a movie at a Kuantan shopping mall on June 5, reports the Star Online.
As per Kuantan OCPD Asst Comm Mohd Jasmani Yusoff, the men had offered to send the girl home to Pekan, and as she did not suspect anything amiss, she had accepted the offer.
But she was instead taken to a house in Kuantan, and confined in a room for 12 days with the men taking turns to rape her.
She managed to flee from the house on June 16 when the men were asleep, and lodged a report at the Kuantan police station.
Police have identified the suspects who are aged between 16 and 36. (ANI)
Robber forces 2 moneyless women to perform oral sex instead
April 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Kuala Lumpur, April 18 (ANI): A robber in Malaysia made two women perform oral sex on him after finding that they did not have any money.
The two cleaners, aged 68 and 43, were waiting for their factory van at a bus stop in Jalan Kem in Port Klang at 6.30am when a car stopped in front of them.
When the robber demanded for money, the women said that they did not have any.
He then asked the women to get into the car, apparently saying that he would sent them home.
The robber then drove the duo to an oil palm plantation in Bukit Raja, and ordered them to perform oral sex on him.
The 43-year-old woman was even forced to kiss the man’s backside.
The women, who were then abandoned in the plantation, sought help from a foreign worker who brought them out of the plantation.
It was a passer-by who took them to a police station, reports The Star Online.
Klang district police chief Asst Comm Mohamad Mat Yusop revealed that the two women had been sent to the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital for medical examinations.
He even revealed that cops were searching for a well-built man in his 30s, who wore earrings on both his ears. (ANI)