Speaking of how popular India is, Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa is reportedly buying an additional 5.1 percent of India's privately held Essar for about $590 million. The purchase values the mobile operator at about $11.8 billion, demonstrating just how valuable the Indian market is to both operators and infrastructure players. Hutchison Whampoa outbid the closely held Essar Group, which owns around 33 percent of Hutchison Essar, and confusingly enough, Hutchison Telecommunications International, a 49.8 percent owned unit of Hutchison Whampoa, already owns 42.3 percent of Hutchison Essar.
For more about Hutchison Whampoa's increased investment in India:
- read this article from The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)