Tata Sons will take necessary permissions from the Competition Commission of India and tax authorities to remit $1.18 billion to NTT DoCoMo for settling the long-term dispute between former partners.
As per the Tata Power’s BSE filing, the Delhi High Court had approved the consent terms between companies to resolve the differences between them following its April 28 order that allowed Tata Sons to remit the $1.18 billion deposited with the Registrar of Court to the Japanese firm.
As per the court’s order, Tata Sons shall take necessary permissions from the Competition Commission of India and tax authorities to remit $1.18 billion to DoCoMo in lieu of shares to be transferred to Tata Sons.
“In terms of the Inter-Se Agreement dated March 25, 2009, Tata Power is to acquire 118,222,767 equity shares of Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL). As on the date of the Arbitration Award i.e. June 22, 2016, $1,171 million was payable by Tata Power for the same. The final amount payable would be determined on the date of the payment to DoCoMo and would, therefore, vary from the amount indicated above,” Tata Power said in the filing.
Tata Group had been stuck in a legal battle with Japanese telecom major for years over a breach of contractual obligations pertaining to TTSL, their Indian joint venture.
Last week, the Delhi High Court approved the arbitration award of $1.18 billion to be paid by Tata Sons to NTT DoCoMo, paving the way for the Japanese company to exit Tata Teleservices.
The court rejected objections raised earlier by the Reserve Bank of India stating that there was no such provision in law which permitted RBI to intervene in a petition seeking enforcement of an arbitral award to which RBI is not a party.
The Delhi High Court’s order that was welcomed by Tata Sons not only ends the dispute, but allows the group selling or merging the loss-making telecom asset to an incumbent player.