Ananda Krishnan offers $5bn for Maxis

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian business tycoon Ananda Krishnan wants to take full control of mobile operator Maxis Communications, to gain greater flexibility in running the company.

Krishnan already has a 46.5-per cent stake in Maxis, which is Malaysia''s largest mobile firm, and will launch a takeover offer for the remaining shares by May 3, according to a regulatory filing on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.

Krishnan has made the offer through his company Usaha Tegasis. The offer is estimated to be worth over $5 billion based on Maxis'' current market value of $9.4 billion, Market analysts expect a premium of 20-30 pc over the current share price, which could take the deal value to over $6.5 billion.

Experts said privatisation and full control would give Krishnan a free hand for deploying his own wealth for investments in overseas markets like India.

Earlier this month, Maxis announced plans to invest $3 billion in its Indian operations over the next five years. In February, Aircel, in which Maxis has a 74-per cent stake, had said it was targeting to double its subscriber base to eight million in 2007.