"LOG BOOK "

LOG BOOK

Feb: Bharti & MTN begin talks
April: News first breaks that Bharti is eyeing MTN
April 25: Bharti management denies MTN bid
May 2: Sunil Mittal says MTN has not even invited Bharti for talks
May 5: Bharti takes a U-turn, says it is in exploratory talk with MTN
May 6: Bharti says it hasn’t made offer for MTN
May 13: Bharti says talks with MTN aimed at combining the strengths of the two
May 16: Bharti- MTN reach ‘in-principle’ agreement and a term sheet initialled between two lead bankers
May 21: MTN board meets to consider term sheet. MTN proposes alternate model where Bharti becomes its subsidiary
May 24: ET first reports that talks have reached a stalemate
May 24: Bharti announces that talks with MTN have been called off
MTN’s been flirting with suitors

THE promiscuous South African telecom major MTN has called off merger talks, if Bharti Airtel’s reported version on the deal is to be believed. But this not new for MTN. At least four times in the last three years, MTN was in talks with potential overseas partner. While no deal took place, the MTN stock zoomed and smart investors made a killing, says Mansi Tiwari.

Booster dose for
Bharti shares
BHARTI Airtel’s decision to call off talks to buy out MTN is likely to provide a temporary fillip to the Indian telecom major’s shares, reports Our Mumbai Bureau. The market appears to have had a whiff of the development on Friday itself as Bharti Airtel shares rallied 2.5% in a weak market to close at Rs 836.80. The stock has shed roughly 7% since the company announced on May 6 that it had initiated talks with MTN.