Koshika May Divest In Cellular Venture

The Vinay Rai-promoted Koshika Telecom is negotiating a deal with strategic investors, including financial institutions, for selling off part of its equity holding in its cellular venture. The selloff, according to sources, will be limited to about 10 per cent.

The move is part of the group's efforts to raise funds for paying its licence fee dues of over Rs 400 crore on May 8. "We are looking at both the debt and equity options," company sources said.

But they said the sale was likely to take time as none of the prospective buyers had even begun the due diligence process.

"Of the Rs 400 crore that we are trying to raise, about 10 per cent (Rs 40 crore to Rs 45 crore) will be added to the equity base of the company," they said. At present, the Usha group has almost a 100 per cent stake in Koshika with an equity base of about Rs 200 crore.

Meanwhile, Koshika has decided to recruit two CEOs to run its operations in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh (West) and Orissa, the circles for which Koshika's licences were terminated last May.

Last month, Koshika paid a notional amount of about Rs 2 crore as part of its acceptance of the DoT offer letter to clear licence fee arrears for resumption of services in the three circles.

Koshika received the offer letter on April 25 and as part of the acceptance of the package, it also withdrew the pending cases with the Telecom regulatory Authority of India and the Delhi High Court.