Friday, 03 September 2010
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| Tuesday, 06 May 2008 | |
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Deal between Airtel and MTN would create an emerging market giant.
India’s Bharti Airtel has confirmed that it is looking at a deal with South Africa’s MTN. It is believed that Airtel would have to stump up US$20bn for a controlling 51% stake in MTN. Yesterday’s statement said: “Bharti Airtel Limited has entered into an exploratory discussion with MTN Group Limited, South Africa. Current discussions are still at an early stage, are exploratory in nature and may or may not lead to any transaction.” Any such deal would create a formidable player. Bharti Airtel is a market leader in India with more than 62mn mobile customers. MTN has more than 65mn customers in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East, its footprint stretching from Afghanistan to Zambia and beyond. The structure and ownership of South Africa’s telecom market have been open to question since talks between MTN and former monopoly Telkom collapsed late last year (click here). Jim Chalmers |
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