There are reports indicating that talks are underway for an Indian private telecommunications company, Bharti Airtel to possibly buy Mobile Telecommunications Networks (MTN) of South Africa.

Reports in the Economic Times, an Indian publication say, in what may turn out to be the largest ever acquisition by an Indian company, the country’s biggest private telecom player Bharti Airtel on Monday said it was in talks to acquire South Africa’s MTN. MTN South Africa is the mother company of MTN Ghana.

According to the publication, the two companies have officially confirmed for the first time that they have entered into discussions for a possible stake sale. It has also been learnt that the Board of MTN, which is South Africa’s largest telecommunications company met Monday to discuss the potential buy out from Bharti.

The publication said when a Bharti official was contacted he declined to reveal further details but said, “Bharti Airtel has entered into an exploratory discussion with MTN Group, South Africa. Current discussions are still at an early stage, are exploratory in nature and may or may not lead to any transaction.”

And when myjoyonlline called up Ms. Mawuena Dumor, Corporate Services Executive of MTN Ghana, she said at that time, she hasn’t seen the story herself, but some of her friends had told her about it.

She however said, the story as published is speculative, so she would have to call MTN’s corporate office in South Africa before she could respond to our requests for clarification on the matter, and she asked us to give her some 24 hours to get back to us.

Meanwhile, checks on other news sites such as that of The Guardian of the UK also show a story on the ongoing talks between MTN and Bharti.

According to some of the reports, shares in South African telecoms operator MTN soared on Tuesday on news that Bharti Airtel was considering a takeover, but shares in the Indian group sagged amid concerns over funding.

Bharti and MTN Group said on Monday they were in talks which may or may not lead to a deal. Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), which owns over 30 percent of Bharti, also confirmed on Tuesday that Bharti was in talks with MTN.

If successful, the bid could be India's biggest foreign acquisition, topping Tata Steel's $13 billion buy of Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus Group last year.

MTN has operations in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. Telecom industry watchers believe that, if the deal goes through, the Indian model of low tariffs and high volumes can easily be replicated in these nations where demand for cellular services is high and volumes are related to tariffs, some of the reports have said.

Sources say Bharti is looking at two options, either to acquire a 51% stake in MTN and continue to allow the company to be listed at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) or, buy out the company completely and then offer a cash-and-share sweetener for its shareholders by going in for a secondary JSE listing.

MTN has more than 68 million customers spread across Africa and the Middle East, which is just about a little larger than the customer base of Bharti Airtel. MTN has a market cap of more than more than $35 billion, while Bharti is valued at about $45 billion.

The Financial Times, has also said Britain's Vodafone Group, China Mobile and India's Reliance Communications were also likely to be interested in MTN.

The MTN Group is 13.09 percent owned by Newshelf 664, a company owned by MTN management and staff. Other stakeholders include Public Investment Corporation, Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch and Cie, JP Morgan Chase and Old Mutual Group.

The reports quoted sources saying Bharti is being advised by Standard Bank, while Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank had been advising MTN.

Singapore’s Singtel which is likely to coordinate with Bharti for the MTN bid is being advised by Goldman Sachs.


By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi