Bharti Airtel seeks partnership with MTN
Bharti Airtel Limited “Bharti” announced that it has renewed its
effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group Limited “MTN” and is
exploring a potential transaction whereby, pursuant to a scheme of
arrangement, Bharti would acquire a 49 percent shareholding in MTN and,
in turn, MTN and its shareholders would acquire an approximate 36
percent economic interest in Bharti, of which 25 percent would be held
by MTN with the remainder held directly by MTN shareholders. Bharti and
MTN have agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively with
one another until 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
Middle Eastern operations. The broader strategic objective would be to
achieve a full merger of MTN and Bharti as soon as it is practicable to
create a leading emerging market telecom operator which today would have
combined revenues of over USD 20 billion and a combined customer base of
over 200 million.
Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti, Sunil Bharti Mittal said,
“We are delighted at the prospect of developing a partnership with MTN
to create an emerging market telecom powerhouse.
Both companies would stand to gain significant benefits from sharing
each other’s best practices in addition to savings emanating from
enhanced scale. We see real power in the combination and we will work
hard to unleash it for all our shareholders. This opportunity also
represents a first of its kind in developing an Indian-African
initiative that would serve as a shining example of South-South
cooperation.”
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