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MUMBAI: Birla group finally completes the acquisition of Tata's stake in the Idea cellular. Birla's agreed to buy out his JV partner Tata's stake of 48.12 per cent for Rs 4,406 crore at Rs 40.50 a share.

Birla group companies Aditya Birla Nuvo and its subsidiaries will pick up 15 per cent, and Birla TMT Holdings Pvt Ltd, an unlisted firm will buy the rest 33.14 per cent.

With this acquisition, now Birla's own 98 per cent of Idea cellular. C Sivasankaran, the former promoter of Aircel, will continue to hold 1.7 per cent in Idea.

The buyout followed an offer from Maxis of Malaysia to acquire the Tata stake in the GSM operator for Rs 4200 crore.

The acquisition price is substantially higher than Rs 17.5 per share, the price the Birla and the Tata groups paid to buy out Cingular Telecom's stake in August 2005.

Idea Cellular has licenses to operate in 11 circles. With a customer base of over 7 million, Idea has operations in Delhi, Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttaranchal, Haryana, UP- West and Kerala.