Bharti Airtel, India’s number one mobile operator is headed to take-over South African telecom major MTN after negotiations. Bharti’s talks with South African mobile operator MTN Group Ltd are now centered on a full takeover by the Indian operator for a combination of cash and stock, a person familiar with the situation has quoted this. Bharti wants 51 % stake, majority control but MTN wants a full takr-over, which in South Africa will be portrayed as a merger of equals.

Bharti on Tuesday said in talks with MTN to combine the power of the two leading companies while emerging markets, and is accordingly looking toward possible structures to achieve this objective. According to the sources Bharti is paying as much as $20 billion in cash. Mr Sunil Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Group is understood to have held talks with the South African telecom major MTN’s top management in London yesterday to work out a broad scheme of arrangements for a possible merger between the two companies.Mr Mittal met the MTN Chairman, Mr M C Ramaphosa, CEO, Mr P F Nhleko and single majority stakeholder Mr Azim Mikati to put forward Bharti’s proposals in which the Delhi-based company is said to have insisted on ‘exclusivity agreement’ with MTN.

Categories: Business, IT sector
Tags: Bharti Airtel, mtn, sunil mittal