MTN Group Rises to Record on Bharti Airtel Bid Report (Update3)
By Janice Kew
May 5 (Bloomberg) -- MTN Group Ltd., Africa's largest mobile-phone company, climbed to a record in Johannesburg trading after the Financial Times reported Bharti Airtel Ltd. may be planning a bid for the company.
MTN rose 5.50 rand, or 3.8 percent, to 150 rand, the highest closing price in the company's 14-year history. The stock, which reached as much a 152.01 in intraday trading, was the most active stock by company value in Johannesburg today.
``If the Indian consortium is looking to buy MTN it will have to be prepared to pay quite a premium, likely more than 211 rand a share,'' Bruce Main, a fund manager at Ivy Asset Management, who manages MTN shares worth about 100 million rand ($13.2 million), said by telephone from Johannesburg today. ``Whoever buys MTN is essentially getting the biggest telecommunications growth story on the African continent.''
While Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile-phone company, has been approached by several banks about making an offer, Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal said he had not discussed a bid with the mobile-phone operator's board, the FT reported May 3. Mittal told reporters in New Delhi on April 25 that ``speculation is unwarranted'' on the issue.
Bharti slipped 6.3 rupees, or 0.7 percent, to 893.95 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
``It may be that MTN won't be sold lock, stock and barrel, but that a more complex deal is settled on,'' Khulekani Dlamini, a fund manager at Renaissance Asset Management in Cape Town, said by telephone today. ``It would be good for the South African market if a deal did happen.''
Pearl Majola, spokeswoman for MTN, couldn't comment when Bloomberg News reached her on her mobile phone today. Bharti spokesman Senjam Raj Sekhar declined to comment on the FT report in a phone interview in New Delhi today.
To contact the reporters on this story: Janice Kew in Johannesburg at jkew1@bloomberg.netCarli Lourens in Johannesburg at clourens@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: May 5, 2008 11:57 EDT
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