Bharti Airtel Ltd., India’s biggest mobile-phone company, fell in Mumbai trading on concern that it may have to raise debt or sell shares to fund a takeover of African operator MTN Group Ltd.
Bharti fell 2.9 percent to 868 rupees as of 9:59 a.m. on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Bharti and Johannesburg-based MTN Group said in separate statements that talks are ``exploratory’’ and may not lead to a deal.
Bharti has arranged $12 billion of financing and may seek to buy 51 percent of MTN, valuing the company at about $39 billion, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The acquisition would be the biggest by an Indian company, eclipsing Tata Steel Ltd.’s $13 billion takeover of Corus Group Plc last year.
``History indicates markets worry about overpayment and dilution first before looking at synergies and extended growth opportunities,’’ Citigroup Inc. analysts Anand Ramachandran and Rhys Summerton wrote in a report today, citing Tata Steel’s takeover of Corus.
Tata Steel fell 10 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006 as it had to raise its bid for Corus to fend off a rival takeover offer for the U.K.-based steelmaker.
Bharti spokesman Senjam Raj Sekhar today declined to comment beyond yesterday’s statement. Pearl Majola, a spokeswoman for MTN, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
MTN, which generates more revenue than its Indian suitor through services in Nigeria, Iran and South Africa, has climbed 13 percent to a record in Johannesburg trading since the Financial Times reported on April 25 Bharti may make an offer.
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Southeast Asia’s largest telephone company, may be ``directly’’ involved in a potential acquisition of MTN, Citigroup said.
Singapore Telecom, which owns a 30.5 percent stake in Bharti said in a statement today that the company was ``pleased’’ the Indian operator is in talks with MTN.
Connie Ling, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. declined to comment. Goldman is advising Singapore Telecom, the Financial Times said.
MTN climbed 3.8 percent to 150 rand yesterday, raising its market capitalization to about $37 billion, or about 10 percent less than Bharti’s value.
Source : Bloomberg
No comments:
Post a Comment