Business | Telecoms
Channel Sponsor
Bharti Airtel rises on MTN share-swap talk
Bharti Airtel, India's leading mobile operator, may seek a merger or share swap with MTN Group
- Reuters
- Published: 00:38 May 16, 2008
New Delhi: Bharti Airtel, India's leading mobile operator, may seek a merger or share swap with MTN Group to try to avoid a bidding war for the South African phone firm, analysts and media reports say.
The reports helped push up Bharti shares yesterday after the stock had fallen sharply last week on investor concerns over funding a deal that could top $20 billion and the risk of a bidding war.
A successful deal would be India's biggest foreign acquisition and create the world's sixth-largest mobile operator, with more than 130 million subscribers in more than 20 countries.
"What I feel is they want to cool off the situation after some international players said they are also interested in MTN," said R.K. Gupta, managing director of Taurus Asset Management.
etisalat said it was evaluating a possible bid for MTN, and China Mobile has said it is interested in the South Africa market, but has not bid.
The Financial Times reported that Bharti had made an indicative bid of 165 rand per share for 51 per cent of MTN, valuing it at about $37 billion.
Share this article
More from Telecoms
More from Business
Popular in Business
-
Budget travel
Airlines in the region
Take a pictorial look at some of the budget airlines in GCC
Business Editor's choice
-
Cafe Nero's premium coffee blends
UK chain plans to open 50 outlets in region following UAE launch
-
Emirates to fly direct to Tokyo
Airline considers code-share deal with JAL after adding second destination in Japan
-
Work on world's longest sea crossing
The proposed Qatar-Bahrain causeway project is estimated to cost Dh9.9 billion
