MTN: Headlines with links and DJ article
Bharti May Pay No More Than $45 Billion for MTN, Dow Jones Says
[DJ article posted below]
bloomberg.com
Bharti May Offer to Combine With MTN by Weekend, Mint Reports
bloomberg.com
05/15 01:25 =DJ UPDATE: Bharti May Pay $45B For MTN; MTN Wants $50B - Sources
(Adds quotes, amount Bharti is willing to pay for MTN) By Romit Guha, Costas Paris & P.R Venkat Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BANGALORE (Dow Jones)--India's Bharti Airtel Ltd. (532454.BY) is considering paying a maximum $45 billion for all of MTN (MTN.JO) - but the South African mobile operator wants $50 billion, people familiar with the situation said Thursday.
"MTN wants $50 billion. They also want their CEO Phuthuma Nhleko to be the CEO of the merged entity. Bharti is thinking between $40 billion and $45 billion and it has yet to address the CEO issue. They (Bharti) are looking into MTN's demand but the first reaction was that it's a lot of money. The talks are continuing," one of those people told Dow Jones Newswires.
Another person said MTN has told Bharti that $50 billion would seal the deal and that Bharti "is now considering a 50:50 cash-stock deal for MTN."
He added that representatives of Bharti, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. ( Z74.SG) - which controls 30.4% of the Indian company - Azmi Mikati, chief executive of M1 Ltd. and Nhleko have met in London in a third round of talks on the structure of a potential merger.
If Bharti is to merge with MTN it will have to make a secondary listing in South Africa.
"They are also discussing the venue of the headquarters of the merged entity. MTN wants it to be in Johannesburg," the first person said.
At the end of March, MTN had 68.2 million subscribers in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. A successful deal will bring together two major mobile players operating in different parts of the emerging world, with a combined market value of nearly $80 billion and more than 130 million customers across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
The first person said that Bharti is considering paying up to $20 billion in cash and the rest through a share swap. MTN's current market value is around $38 billion.
Bharti, India's biggest mobile phone operator by subscribers, initially considered offering between ZAR160 and ZAR165 a share, or around $19 billion, for a 51% stake in MTN, people familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires last week.
Those people said also that Bharti is considering an offer of ZAR175 a share and that it's looking for around $20 billion in financing.
"The 51% stake scenario is not dead," the first person said.
Four of MTN's 10 biggest investors told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday that they wouldn't accept anything less than ZAR180 per share, regardless of whether the deal would end up being a partial or full takeover.
The stakes could go up after Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Telecommunications Corp. (ETISALAT) Chairman Mohammed Omran said Monday that the company has looked into the possibility of bidding for MTN.
Bharti has contacted Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds and banks around the world in a search for additional cash to back its bid.
The company has pledges of about $18 billion in financing from banks, including Standard Chartered PLC (STAN.LN) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and the sovereign wealth funds, the first person said.
The people familiar with the situation have said also that SingTel may help finance the acquisition, but no agreement has been reached.
SingTel Group Chief Executive Chua Sock Koong told reporters Wednesday that SingTel has the money to be involved in acquisitions but Bharti's talks with MTN are still at an early stage.
She declined to comment on SingTel's involvement in the deal.
A Bharti spokesman declined to comment Thursday, SingTel also declined to comment and MTN officials couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
-By Romit Guha, Costas Paris and P.R Venkat, Dow Jones Newswires; 65-64154151; costas.paris@dowjones.com |
