The Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate is working with an adviser to evaluate an offer for T-Mobile Netherlands, the people familiar with the latest development said. Deutsche Telekom is seeking about 5 billion euros ($5.9 billion) in any sale, the people said. Deliberations are ongoing, no final decision has been made and there’s no certainty RIL will decide to proceed with a formal offer, according to the people. Deutsche Telekom declined to comment. A representative for RIL could not immediately comment.
Deutsche Telekom is working with Morgan Stanley on the sale of the business, which has attracted interest from private equity firms including Apax Partners, Apollo Global Management, BC Partners, Providence Equity Partners and Warburg Pincus, Bloomberg reported last month.
Buyout firms are drawn to such assets as they can gain control of underlying infrastructure, which offers steady long-term returns. In May, the Dutch telecom group Royal KPN said it had rejected an “unsolicited high-level approach” from investment firms EQT AB and Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners. KPN shares dropped as much as 4.7% in Amsterdam to a three-week low on the news RIL was considering a bid for its rival.
RIL, Gates to join hands
Meanwhile, RIL has announced that it is joining Bill Gates for investing in Ambri, a Massachusetts-based energy storage company. Apart from the two billionaires, other investors such as New York-based hedge fund manager Paulson too have invested in Ambri.
Ambri has received a total funding of $144 million, of which RIL contributed 35%. India’s most valued company has routed the Ambri investment through its 100% arm Reliance New Energy Solar. Ambri is RIL’s first investment in low-carbon technology after Ambani laid out a road map for a clean-energy play at the company’s annual general meeting in June. The plan includes building a factory in Jamnagar, Gujarat, for the storage of intermittent energy.
RIL and Ambri are also exploring to set up a battery manufacturing facility in India, which “would bring down costs” for the former’s green energy initiative, the Indian company said. Ambri, a MIT spin-out, will use the money to build manufacturing infrastructure in the US and in other countries. Ambri makes low-cost, durable battery systems that can last for long hours. This makes it suitable to meet the growing demand from the grid-scale energy storage market and from other customers like data centres.
