MTN soars 8 pc on JSE amid renewed talks with Bharti

JOHANNESBURG: Shares of MTN surged as much as eight per cent on the Johannesburg stock exchange after India's leading mobile phone operator renewed its effort for acquiring 49 per cent stake in the South African telecom giant.

Shares of MTN were trading at 128.70 rand on the JSE in morning trade, registering a gain of 9.7 rand or 8.15 per cent.

The two companies have agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively by July 31 this year. If materialised, the combined entity would have revenues of over 20 billion dollars and a subscriber base of over 200 million.

Meanwhile, shares of Bharti Airtel witnessed volatile trading in the morning trade and witnessed an intra-day high of Rs 930.50, a jump of over 8 per cent and also saw its day's low of Rs 809, a decline of 5.69 per cent on the BSE.

Bharti Airtel was later trading at Rs 812.90, down 5.24 per cent and MTN was quoted at 128.49 rand, up 7.49 per cent on the JSE.

Bharti and MTN have agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively with each other by July 31, 2009.

The potential transaction between Bharti and MTN would create a leading telecommunications service provider group aligning Bharti's market leading Indian business with MTN's market leading African and the Middle Eastern operations.