Sivasankaran to sell part of 8% in TTSL to DoCoMo

Non-resident Indian C Sivasankaran has struck a deal to sell a small part of his 8 per cent equity stake in Tata Teleservices (TTSL) to Japanese mobile major NTT DoCoMo. The Japanese mobile company in November had agreed to pick up 26 per cent stake in TTSL for $2.7 billion. While confirming the development, Sivasankaran said he was not selling his entire stake, but only a part of it. The deal would be around Rs 240 crore.

Sivasankaran is expected to make a major windfall if he sells his entire stake in TTSL. In 2006, the NRI had bought an 8 per cent stake in the company for Rs 1,200 crore. The value of his shares, based on the NTT DoCoMo deal, is more than three times at over Rs 4,000 crore.

DoComo had valued TTSL at Rs 50,269 crore and was planning to pick up the stake through a combination of issuance of fresh equity and also buying out a portion from the Tatas and other shareholders. The other key investors in the company, apart from the Tatas, include Singapore-based investment giant Temasek Holdings, which holds 9.9 per cent stake.

TTSL has over 25 million subscribers in 20 circles with a per subscriber valuation of Rs 19,334. Sivasankaran has been an investor in the telecom space and has run many mobile businesses, which he later sold off. Apart from selling his Delhi mobile company Sterling Cellular to the Essar group, he also ran Aircel in Chennai and Tamil Nadu before selling it off to Maxis.

He was also the pioneer in running broadband services through his company DSL Dishnet, which he sold to the Tatas. The NRI has dabbled in various businesses as diverse as coffee retail, heath food restaurant, shipping business among others.