Bharti-MTN $23 bn deal called off

MUMBAI: India's Bharti Airtel said late on Wednesday it and South Africa's MTN had called off talks for a planned tie-up due to the inability of the South African government to accept the deal in current form. (Watch)

Bharti said it will continue to look for international opportunities and hoped the South African government would review its position in the future and allow both companies to re-engage.

South African mobile phone operator MTN declined to comment on a statement by India's Bharti Airtel that tie-up talks have been called off, saying it will issue a statement later. "We will send out a statement later on," MTN spokeswoman Nozipho January-Bardill said.

Bharti and MTN revived merger talks in May, a year after previous talks broke down over who would control a merged entity. A merger would create an emerging markets giant with more than 200 million customers across India, Africa and the Middle East.

The talks had been extended twice and the present deadline was until Wednesday.



The deal faced scrutiny from regulators and politicians. South Africa is eager to retain MTN's national character and had approached Indian authorities to consider a dual-listed entity, a structure Indian laws currently do not allow.

Bharti had said earlier it was open to preserving MTN's national character after a deal and has already said it would retain senior MTN management.

The talks between MTN, Africa's largest cellular group, and Bharti was aimed at forging a telecom giant with annual revenues of over 20 billion dollars and 200 million customers.

Erasing early gains, shares of telecom firm Bharti Airtel today closed in the negative terrain on the bourses amid uncertainty over its proposed deal with South Africa's MTN even as their exclusive talks period is ending today.

Even though the exclusive talks period between the two companies ends today, a clear picture is yet to emerge on the proposed deal, which would create a combined entity having over 200 million subscribers.

Meanwhile, the government yesterday said it has a positive approach toward the proposed USD 23-billion deal between Bharti and South African MTN, even as the time for exclusive talks between the two companies ends on September 30.

South Africa's rand extended its losses against the dollar after Bharti Airtel said it was calling off talks with MTN. The rand ZAR=D3 fell over 2 percent to as much as 7.62 against the dollar, from Tuesday's New York close of 7.43. It last traded at 7.5650.