Batelco acquires 49% stake in S Tel for $225Mn (India)

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A Batelco led consortium has completed the acquisition of a 49% of shareholding in Indian mobile operator S Tel Limited for $225 million.
S Tel holds a licence to operate in six out of the 23 Indian states in North East and North West India, where the population is approximately 230 million and mobile penetration is less than 20%.
Batelco Group CEO Peter Kaliaropoulos said: Conditions precedent have been satisfied and Batelco has completed the first phase of its investment in S Tel. Batelco now holds a 36.9% share of S Tel and in the coming months the shareholding will increase to 49%.”
He further said that the priority for the operator is now to assist S Tel in order to accelerate the rolling out of services in Q4’09.
Batelco Chairman Sheikh Hamad said the operator plans to further extend its geographical footprint with additional acquisitions across the Middle East and Africa, India and the Asia Pacific region.