Hindujas enter race for Hutch's HTL stake

Mumbai: The Hinduja Group, which has arranged funds for a possible bid to acquire Hutchison Wampoa's controlling stake in Hutchison Essar Ltd, is all set to start examining the books of the mobile firm next week.

Reports quoting group vice chairman A K Das said the Hindujas are likely to start due diligence of HTIL's books once other players finish the process. He, however, said the decision on the bidding would depend on information coming out of the due diligence.

While British telecom firm Vodafone is understood to have finished due diligence, Essar's bankers and Reliance Communications have completed the first round of the exercise.

"Once the book reading is complete, the bidding should happen this month only. It does not look like to go past this month," he said.

While the group is interested in the whole 67 per cent stake on offer, he said Hindujas are planning a mix of equity and debt for the acquisition. Funds, however, are not a problem for the company, he pointed out.

IndusInd Investment is advising the Hindujas on the acquisition process.