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Our Bureau

Mr Li Ka-shing

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Chennai Feb. 12 Li Ka Shing, Chairman, Hutchison Whampoa.

Called `Superman' Shing at home in Hong Kong, 78-year-old Li Ka Shing is famed for his ability to exit businesses at the right price. His deal with Vodafone, would give him $11.1 billion, a coup considering he entered the Indian entity for as little as $2.6 billion.

Young Shing, with his family, fled Japan-controlled China for Hong Kong in the 1940s. He started out selling plastic flowers in the 1950s, before moving onto real estate, port management, energy and telecom. He sold his stake in British company Orange PLC in 1999 for $22 billion.

Arun Sarin, CEO, Vodafone

Mr Arun Sarin

The 53-year-old IIT Kharagpur graduate will probably silence critics disappointed with a lack of emerging markets strategy for Vodafone. It finally articulated its strategy in May last and has reached the execution stage now.

Vodafone's CEO since 2003, Sarin's bid would give him access to 24.4 million customers in one of the world's biggest and fastest growing markets.

His past involvement in deals include Vodafone's acquisition of SinglePoint, a mobile service provider for $652 million in August 2003. Shortly after, he wanted to put Vodafone on the US map but lost to Cingular in the race for AT&T Wireless.

Canning Fok, Chairman, Hutchison Telecom International Ltd.

Mr Canning Fok

Li Ka Shing may call the shots in the Vodafone-Hutch deal. But 55-year-old Canning Fok is the man in the hot seat. Canning is best known for his push towards exiting the 2G space by selling out Orange in 1999, and using the $20-billion plus profits almost directly into 3G. Seen as patriarch Li Ka Shing's long-time aide-de-camp, Fok has been Executive Director of Hutchison Whampoa, since 1983, that holds the stake under discussion in Hutch-Essar. He is the Chairman of Hutchison Harbour Ring Ltd and Partner Communications Company Ltd and is co-chairman of Husky Energy Inc.

Anil Ambani, Chairman, Reliance - ADAG

Mr Anil Ambani

A self-proclaimed fitness freak who became a marathon runner after being ridiculed once at a boardroom meeting for his 115 kg frame, Anil Ambani has not tasted success on this count. He had earlier claimed that his group would be able to raise adequate cash to acquire Hutchison's stake in Hutch-Essar. Today Ambani said that his bid was on lines of `financial conservatism' as articulated earlier, in the face of `challenging valuations'.

Looks like the organic route is a good option left for Reliance Communications, which wants to enter the GSM arena, having operated successfully on the CDMA platform this long. What seems a challenge though is the availability of GSM spectrum even if it avoids legal tangles to spectrum acquisition.

More Stories on : Mergers & Acquisitions | Telecommunications

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