Sources said a high-powered team lead by Hutchison chief operating officer(COO) Sandip Das is in the capital to finalise the deal. "The deal is likelyto be signed in a day or two," said sources. The Essar group promoters arealso in town and were keenly following the negotiations, the sourcesadded.

Essar sources, when contacted, said, "Jardine Fleming has been mandated bySwisscom to find a buyer for its stake in Sterling. Hutchison might well beone of the parties which are negotiating with Jardine for acquiring thestake. Essar will come into the picture once an agreement is signed".

Sources close to the Sterling management added that Hutchison was aiming totake a leadership position in the company. A source added that the talks,which were on for the past few months, were now culminating with the expiryof the five-year lock-in period that barred existing promoters fromeffecting changes in the equity structure. The deadline for the eight metrocircle operators ended on November 29.

The Essar group promoters have valued the Delhi metro licence at around $325million. While the financial details of the buyout are not clear, sourcessaid the Swisscom stake was likely to go for more than $100 million.

Sterling Cellular has a debt-equity ratio of 1:3, with equity of $150million and $50-million debt. At present, Essar holds 51 per cent of theequity, Swisscom 32.56 per cent, and C Sivavsankaran 16.40 per cent.

Swisscom had announced its decision to quit India at the start of this year.The withdrawal, however, could not come through till now due to thefive-year lock-in clause.

While there have been reports earlier of the Ruias buying out Swisscom, theEssar sources said no such deal was signed.

Sterling Cellular is the most successful of the Essar group's telecomventures. It has three non-metro cellular licences in the name of AircelDigilink Ltd for Rajasthan, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh (East), with only thelatter licence being still valid.