As per rumours, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is set to make a $5.7 billion offer to acquire a controlling stake in T-Mobile Netherlands BV (TMN), the country’s largest telecom operator with 5.7 million users.
RIL is expected to make the offer within a month and has begun shortlisting lenders to fund the transaction.
TMN is 75% owned by Deutsche Telekom, with Tele2 AB owning the balance 25%.
Exact reason for acquisition and the potential will be only knows over time. Some of the speculated reasons are –
- De-risking the Jio business from pure India play
- Foothold in the International markets
For me, it’s in preparation of international listing of Jio. Would be interesting to see how it pans out.