While Telenor has appointed Citibank, the Tatas have roped in Lazard to study all options for their telecom business.
The move comes even as the government is expected to liberalise the current rules for mergers and acquisitions in the telecom sector while finalising the new policy.
If the deal goes through, this would be the first major decision of the Tata group’s new chairman, Cyrus Mistry, for the telecom business, which has been in losses.
The Tatas own 59.5 per cent stake in Tata Teleservices, the unlisted holding company, and 27.9 per cent in the listed Tata Teleservices Maharashtra.
Japanese telecom major Docomo owns 26 per cent in Tata Teleservices, while the remaining equity is held by minority investors, including the Sivasankaran group.
Telenor, which has set up a new firm for its telecom business following a battle with the Unitech group, its former partner, has brought in Sun Pharma CFO Sudhir Valia as Indian partner with a 26 per cent stake in his personal capacity.
Telenor holds the balance stake in Telewings Communications, which bagged spectrum in six circles in November last year.
When contacted, a Tata spokesperson said: “The query raised is speculative and Tata Teleservices, as a policy, does not comment on speculation.”
A Telenor spokesperson said the company would not comment on rumours and speculation, adding: “What the group has said is that it is not compelled to participate in any merger or acquisition, seeing that its current six-circle footprint allows it to serve every second person in India.
"At the same time, it will evaluate any such opportunities, should those become available and make business sense.”
A Citibank official said the bank did to comment on confidential client mandates, while Lazard declined to comment on the issue.
Through Unitech Wireless, Telenor had 31.7 million customers till February-end.
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