NTT DoCoMo to Invest 14.6 Billion Yen in Tata Teleservices
March 31, 2011, 6:10 AM EDTBy Yoshinori Eki and Ketaki Gokhale
(Updates with share prices in fourth paragraph.)
March 31 (Bloomberg) -- NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan’s largest mobile-phone operator, will invest 14.6 billion yen ($176 million) in Tata Teleservices Ltd. as part of a rights offering by the Indian partner.
The purchase will allow DoCoMo to maintain its 26 percent stake in the closely held Indian company, the Tokyo-based phone carrier said in a statement today. Part of the payment has already been completed and the remainder will be made in May, the company said.
Tata Teleservices will use the proceeds to help upgrade its third-generation wireless network in India, the world’s second largest market for mobile services. Tata was among nine operators including Vodafone Group Plc’s Indian unit that spent 677.2 billion rupees ($15 billion) on next-generation wireless permits in a an auction held by the Indian government last year.
DoCoMo, which completed a 250 billion yen investment in Tata Teleservices in March 2009, fell 1.8 percent to close at 146,200 yen in Tokyo, narrowing its gain this year to 3.1 percent. Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Ltd., the listed unit that provides mobile-phone services in Mumbai and the western states of Maharashtra and Goa, surged 6.4 percent to 17.40 rupees at 11:57 a.m. local time.
Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapore’s state-owned investment company, bought 9.9 percent of the Tata Group unit in March 2006. Tata units generated combined revenue about $70 billion last year, according to its website.
--Editor: Young-Sam Cho, Anand Krishnamoorthy.
To contact the reporters on this story: Yoshinori Eki in Tokyo at yeki@bloomberg.net; Ketaki Gokhale in Mumbai at kgokhale@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net
