India’s tax office has frozen the shares held by Indian real estate conglomerate Unitech in local mobile JV Uninor. The shares are owned via three Unitech units.
The information was confirmed by Norwegian telco Telenor, which owns a 67.25% stake in…
India’s tax office has frozen the shares held by Indian real estate conglomerate Unitech in local mobile JV Uninor. The shares are owned via three Unitech units.
The information was confirmed by Norwegian telco Telenor, which owns a 67.25% stake in Uninor.
Telenor declined to comment further on this freeze, explaining that negotiations at India’s Company Law Board are ongoing.
Telenor and Uninor have been entangled in a dispute over the management of Uninor for the past few months.
But tensions reached a new high when the JV recently lost 22 2G licences, which were illegally attributed in 2008, according to India’s Supreme Court.
Shortly after, in late February, Telenor blamed Unitech for this loss and announced that it was looking for a new partner in Uninor.
It also said it would transfer the JV to a new entity. In response, Unitech said that Telenor “cannot transfer any assets of Uninor without the consent of Unitech because we have veto right in the shareholders’ agreement.”
On 13 March, the Company Law Board asked Unitech to decide whether it wants to buy out Telenor’s stake in Uninor or exit the JV by 19 March.
But reports suggested that talks over the valuation of Unitech’s stake have been inconclusive and that a new hearing on the matter was scheduled for 26 March.
