Shares of Tata Communications soared by about four per cent in early morning trade today amid reports that the company is looking to bid for acquiring UK-based telecom player Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW).
Bucking an overall weak market trend here, the scrip was trading 3.97 per cent higher at Rs 242 on the BSE. The stock had touched an early morning high of Rs 244.20 within minutes of opening of the trade.
The market barometer Sensex was trading nearly 195.14 points or 1.1 per cent down at 17,557.54.
While there have been no words so far from either of the two companies, media reports have said that the UK-based CWW Plc could soon become a potential takeover target of Tata Communications, formerly known as VSNL and earlier a public sector entity, which was acquired by Tatas as part of the Government’s divestment programme.
While the Tata Group has undertaken a number of overseas acquisitions in the past, including many in the UK, there have been reports in the recent past that the British telecom giant Vodafone might be interested in CWW Plc takeover.
Reacting to Vodafone’s interest, CWW had said in a statement last month that its board would make any further announcement as may be required in due course.
Vodafone had also said that it was in very early stages of evaluating the merits of a potential offer for C&W Worldwide.
The NYSE-listed Tata Communications gained 0.3 per cent yesterday to $9.45.