Tesco gets India go-ahead, but Vodafone still has hurdle to clear
price on the last business day before the deal completes.
the increased revenues from Athena are expected to underpin Parkmead’s exploration programme. the group was awarded a total of 30 blocks spanning eight areas in the UK’s latest licensing round.
they include relatively unexplored areas west of Scotland and of the Shetland Islands, which are thought to have the potential for major oil finds.
Cross also made clear last month that he retains his appetite for acquisitions. In addition to the Lochard buyout, he has also snapped up rival Deo Petroleum and a portfolio of assets in INDIA’S foreign investment regulator has approved an expansion plan by tesco worth £67 million, paving the way for Britain’s biggest retailer to enter Asia’s third-largest economy.
Earlier this month, tesco took the initial steps to become the first foreign company to set up a chain of supermarkets in India’s £300 billion retail sector after announcing it had applied to buy a 50 per cent stake in tata Group’s trent hypermarket.
the deal was widely expected to be cleared without much political opposition thanks to tesco’s low-profile approach and its decision to expand at a slow pace, consultants said.
the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) also approved a proposal by telecoms group Vodafone to take full ownership of its Indian business in a £60m deal. that proposal, ber 2012 received a muted response from overseas retailers who were put off by ambiguous foreign participation rules and political opposition. In october, the world’s biggest retailer, WalMart, called off a joint venture with India’s Bharti Enterprises, citing unfriendly regulations.
tesco has had a franchise agreement to provide support to trent’s Star Bazaar chain since 2008, but is now expected to open three or four stores a year under a slow expansion plan designed to comply with sourcing regulations.
tesco’s Indian investment follows declining third-quarter sales in all nine of its continuing overseas markets for the second consecutive quarter.
the world’s third-biggest retailer, which makes about twothirds of its revenue in Britain, is in the midst of a £1bn turnaround plan put in place by chief executive Philip Clarke to try to reverse declining domestic sales.