Tata Group/C&WW: a bid too far? To bid or not to bid? India's Tata Group has famously global ambitions - no fading foreign brand name is too obscure (Tetley's Tea and Jaguar Land Rover are cases in point.) Now the group's internet data services division, Tata Communications, is kicking the tyres of the UK's Cable & Wireless Worldwide (valued at about £1bn). There is talk of an all-cash takeover offer. Tata Communications needs to get its skates on: the UK Takeover Panel says bids (Vodafone has shown tentative interest) must be tabled on Thursday. Tata is reportedly seeking financing for a move. The question is whether it will create any value. Buying C&WW would give Tata ample access to a country where it has little presence: the target generates three quarters of its revenues from UK operations. The UK company also has experience developing specific services across industries and serving small and medium clients - credentials Tata lacks and wants to build. And, while hardly a cutting-edge business in its niche, C&WW would get access to emerging markets via Tata's India network and Africa through its Neotel internet operations. Set Tata Communications" own baggage against those arguably small advantages. For one, it is heavily in debt. Its net debt is six times this year's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation - six times bigger than five years ago. Interest payments cost Tata Communications 6 per cent of its $2bn in revenue over the past nine months. And Tata Group, which holds one-sixth of its data services company, has been slow to integrate its big purchases. That could make it hard for C&WW to benefit quickly from Tata's footprint in emerging markets. Buying C&WW might slash Tata Communications" net debt to ebitda to two times overnight. But it is hard to see where the value in this fading brand really lies.