Norwegian firm Telenor and Indian real estate major Unitech Ltd on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that they have put an end to their ongoing dispute over the auction-sale of their joint venture (JV) Uninor by arriving at an amicable settlement.
“I want to inform this court that there is a happy resolution,” senior advocate Rajiv Nayyar appearing for Telenor Asia Pte Ltd told Justice Indermeet Kaur.
Responding to the submission of the Norwegian telecom major, the counsel for Unitech Ltd said, “It is a complete and comprehensive settlement between the parties. We (Unitech Ltd) have also given up our right in the JV Uninor as per the terms of the settlement. The nominee Directors of Unitech Ltd will step down (from the board of Uninor).”
Telenor and Unitech Ltd, which have stake in proportion of 67:33 in their JV Uninor, have been at loggerheads and pursuing various litigations against each other, besides arbitration proceedings being held at Singapore, following the cancellation of its 22 2G spectrum licenses by the apex court.
In an unexpected move both the firms arrived at the settlement on October 10 and told the court that their petitions on the sale of the JV have become infructutous as a result.
Both the firms pleaded the court that the settlement agreement be kept in a sealed cover and the common public be not allowed to have a look at it.
The plea was allowed by the court.
The settlement agreement contains the affidavits of all the firms concerned.
In view of the amicable solution arrived at by the parties, the order of the Company Law Board (CLB) by which the auction of Uninor was stayed is set aside, the court said.
Earlier the Norwegian firm had moved the court against the CLB order seeking permission to sell the assets of its JV Uninor on the ground that it was required to save the company.
It was alleged that the foreign firm was enticed to invest huge sums of money by Unitech Ltd which had said that the Unified Access Services Licenses (UASL) were acquired in a valid and legal manner.
“I was made to understand that the UASL for 22 circles were validly and legally obtained. However, the facts are contrary. These licenses obtained by Unitech Ltd were used to entice us to make huge investment,” counsel for Telenor had said, adding that the Managing Director of Unitech Ltd is also being prosecuted in a criminal case.
Earlier, the CLB had stopped auction of Telenor-controlled joint venture Uninor.
Uninor had on August 1 invited potential bidders to express interest by August 6 to buy the joint venture and said its majority owner, Norway’s Telenor, was willing to pay Rs 4,190 crore for its 30 million customers and assets in case no other bidder turns up. The move was opposed by Unitech, which had moved the CLB.
