Court defers hearing on Essar Telecom merger

NEW DELHI, INDIA: An Indian court has deferred to April 1 the final hearing of a petition to merge an Essar Group firm, which owns an indirect stake in a mobile joint venture with Vodafone, into another Essar firm, India Securities.

India Securities said on Friday in a notice to the stock exchange that the Madras High Court will hold a final hearing on the petition to merge Essar Telecommunications Holdings, which owns an indirect 11 per cent stake in Vodafone Essar, with the company.

UK-based Vodafone has objected to the merger, saying India Securities' value may be inaccurately used to calculate the value of its Indian telecoms joint venture Vodafone Essar.