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| Bharti-MTN talks veer towards ‘combining strengths’
Last Updated: 2008-05-14 09:53:57
New Delhi: Bharti Airtel on Tuesday indicated that negotiations with South African major MTN would possibly be steering towards a merger of the two rather than an outright acquisition. The largest cellular operator in India said that there was no requirement for it to make a bid.
In a statement Bharti Airtel said, “The discussions being held are aimed at combining the strengths of the two leading ‘emerging markets’ players and accordingly veering towards possible structures to achieve this objective." Bharti would like to reiterate that these discussions are still exploratory in nature and may or may not lead to any transactions.
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“This is further to Bharti’s earlier statements regarding ongoing exploratory discussions with MTN. Bharti would like to clarify that it has neither made any “bid” nor is there any requirement to make a “bid”, as has been incorrectly speculated and reported,” it added.
It was earlier reported by international media that Bharti was all set to make a bid for $19 billion to acquire 51 per cent stake in MTN. It was also reported that other international operators including Etisalat was also interested in bidding for a stake in the South African company.
However, one of the key investors in MTN, the Makati family, had also indicated that they supported the deal with Bharti. They had said that the deal with Bharti cannot be termed as an outright sale of equity.
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