UK’S flagship airline British Airways (BA) is looking to pick up a 25% stake in Wadia group-promoted no-frills airline GoAir. Officials from BA and GoAir will meet in London next month to take discussions forward, said two industry sources familiar with the development to ET. Two weeks ago, BA’s merger talks with Australia’s Qantas did not fructify. It is learnt that the third-largest carrier has been seeking a deal with an Indian carrier for a while now. Interestingly, BA tried to reach a code sharing agreement with GoAir last year. “The interest in buying equity stake in GoAir comes in the wake of the development that the Indian government is considering a proposal to allow foreign airlines to pick up stake in domestic carriers,” said one of the sources. GoAir has a market share of 2.3%.   more »

Tata Teleservices has agreed to sell a 49 percent stake in its telecoms tower arm to another Indian tower firm, valuing the business at an enterprise value of 130 billion rupees ($2.7 billion). In a bid to cut costs, Indian mobile operators are increasingly sharing base stations and tying up with independent operators as they expand across vast rural districts and penetrate smaller towns, where low income subscribers dominate. In November, NTT DoCoMo agreed to buy a 26 percent in the unlisted Tata Teleservices. Quippo Telecom Infrastructure Ltd, an unlisted firm in which India's SREI Infrastructure and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) own stakes, will pay Tata Tele 24 billion rupees and transfer 5,000 towers to the merged entity.   more »

The State Bank of India (SBI), the largest bank in the country, has picked up 19.7 per cent equity in Orissa-based Mayfair Hotels and Resorts (MHRL) through a private equity (PE) deal, for an undisclosed sum. The group currently has four hotels in the state and plans to use the funds to expand organically and geographically. The deal was for 37.33 lakh shares with a face value of Rs 10 each. Post-deal, the promoters' share will be 80 per cent. The decision of SBI to acquire the stake in the leading hospitality player in eastern India in the current difficult market scenario is considered significant.   more »