Bharti Airtel confirms MTN interest

 
South Africa’s Vodacom may be the market leader domestically, but it is
MTN attracting all the attention.

India’s largest integrated telecoms service provider Bharti Airtel and South African mobile juggernaut MTN Group have confirmed they are in exploratory talks over a potential takeover of the latter, with Bharti Airtel considering acquiring a majority stake in MTN.

A statement from Bharti in the middle of May communicated that the Indian company has not made an official offer for MTN, and it was only ongoing exploratory discussions that were taking place at this point. Therefore Bharti Airtel suggested speculation that the company was preparing to table a US$19 billion bid for a 51 per cent stake in MTN as premature.

“Details of any transaction will be released promptly, if and when, the parties reach agreement,” the Bharti Airtel statement read.
Meanwhile, MTN has advised shareholders that it is engaged in discussions, which if successfully concluded “may have a material
effect on the price of the company’s securities”. The company issued a cautionary note, stating a transaction is a possibility and shareholders should exercise caution when dealing in MTN’s securities until a further announcement is made.

MTN Group is Africa’s leading pan-regional operator in terms of the number of subscribers it counts on its networks, reporting a subscriber base of more than 68 million users across 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East at the end of March. Bharti Airtel counts a subscriber base of 64 million.

There has also been growing media speculation that UK operator Vodafone, frustrated by having been unable to engineer a way in which to gain a majority stake in rival South African operator Vodacom, has also expressed interest in acquiring MTN. A MTN spokesperson refused to comment categorically about these rumours when contacted by Comm.

“That is a matter of market speculation and MTN does not comment on speculation,” the spokesperson said. Vodafone spokesperson Simon Gordon also reiterated Vodafone had “no intention
of pursuing a bid for MTN”, although the UK operator is still interested in acquiring a majority stake in Vodacom. It currently holds a 50 per cent share, in partnership with fixed-line telco Telkom.

“We are committed to our current shareholding in Vodacom,’’
Gordon told media. “If the opportunity presented itself to increase that, we would look at it, as we’ve said in the past.”