Hard bargaining between Essar and Vodafone, which clinched a deal to get control in mobile player Hutch-Essar, is more than likely to begin in the next 10 days focusing on restructuring of shareholders agreement and other related matters, including partnership deal.

According to report, after the initial bonhomie that saw Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin offering ‘roses’ on Valentine’s Day and ’sweets’ the next day after his meeting with Ruias, Essar pulled a surprise announcing it would take a decision in due course by ‘ensuring all shareholders rights, including those in agreement with Hutchison Telecom, are adhered to‘.

Essar, on his part, which had earlier taken cudgels on Vodafone’s unilateral announcement to share infrastructure with rival Bharti Airtel even before fructification of the deal with HTIL, is keeping open all its choices, including Right of First Refusal. Quoting the legal point of view, Sarin had asserted that when it came to Vodafone, Essar did not have a Right of First Refusal to enable it to match the top bid.

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