British telecom giant Vodafone on Wednesday ruled out any higher offer for buying out Essar's 33 per cent stake in mobile venture Hutch-Essar, but sent flowers to the Indian conglomerate hoping for a smooth ride going ahead.
"Vodafone will not increase its offer for Essar. It will be same as that for Hutchison Telecom's stake," company's CEO Arun Sarin told editors in New Delhi, adding that he would prefer the Indian conglomerate to stay put in the joint venture.
"Today is Valentine's Day, we are sending roses to Ruias and will visit them. How else do you think we can be more nice to them. . . we have a true desire to partner them," he said.
In the same breath, Sarin said Vodafone firmly believes that Essar, which holds 33 per cent in the JV, does not have a Right of First Refusal. "It is our and our lawyers' opinion."
On keeping Essar in the dark about the infrastructure sharing MoU with Bharti Airtel, Sarin justified, saying: "We were working on a real time basis. Essar also made an offer when we made an offer (for buying out Hutchison's 67 per cent stake) and since we were involved in disengagement talks with Bharti, we also signed this MoU."
"It (MoU with Bharti) would translate into an actual agreement only after we close the deal with Hutch, which may take about two months... Essar would be consulted on decision making as a 33 per cent partner should be," the India-born CEO of Vodafone said.
Asked if Essar was putting pressure for getting a premium and would Vodafone pay more, he reiterated that the offer would be the same as that made to HTIL.