EVEN as Bharti Airtel maintained that talks with South Africa’s MTN were still continuing, speculation was rife in Delhi that talks between both companies had reached a stalemate. While ET has not been able to verify the authencity, unconfirmed rumours doing the rounds in Delhi late on Friday night, said that both companies were expected to make an announcement shortly that talks were being postponed to a later date.
Both companies would use the interim period to address the regulatory and legal hurdles that confronts the deal, industry sources here said. Industry sources in Delhi also quoted bankers in London who are close to the developments as admitting that whether it be a buyout or merger, Bharti would first have to workout the corproate structure of the combined entity in such a way that it confirms to the existing regulations in both countries. They also quoted bankers as saying that both companies had not called off talks, but had decided to put them backburner in order to give Bharti time to work address all hurdles.
However, when contacted, the Bharti spokesperson rubbished these rumours and said that talks between both companies ‘were still on’, while adding that the company (Bharti) had nothing further to state. It must be pointed out that ET has not been able to establish if these rumours are true. Besides, ET also categorically states that industry sources here who tipped the paper of this development are not associated with Bharti Airtel. It must also be clarified that ET has not been able to reach any of Bharti’s top management to verify if these rumours are true.
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