Vodafone wins race for India's Hutch Essar-source

VARCELONA, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Britain's Vodafone Group Plc has won the auction for a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar with an offer that gives India's fourth biggest mobile operator an enterprise value of just under billion, a source close to the auction said on sunday.

''Vodafone has won the auction,'' the source said, adding that an announcement confirming the deal was imminent.

Vodafone, which had been battling India's Reliance Communications and the Essar and Hinduja group in the race for Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecoms International Ltd's 67 percent stake in the Indian company, declined to coment.

Hutchison was not immediately available for comment.

REUTERS BDP VC2157