Bharti pulls out of MTN talks

Bharti Airtel announced on Saturday to pull out of negotiation from an estimated $45 billion acquisition of South African telecom entity MTN, accusing that the latter had deviated from agreed terms.

"Bharti has decided to disengage from the ongoing talks and has conveyed the same to MTN," the company said.

"The MTN board has now presented a completely different structure," the statement said, than what was agreed earlier.

"This new structure envisages Bharti Airtel becoming a subsidiary of MTN and exchange of majority shares of Bharti Airtel held by the Bharti family and Singtel, in exchange for a controlling stake in MTN," the statement added.

"Bharti believes that this convoluted way of getting an indirect control of the combined entity would have compromised the minority shareholders of Bharti Airtel and also would not capture the synergies of a combined entity", it said.

Bharti claimed that over a dozen internationally reputed bankers from the US and Europe had pledged funds of over 60 billion dollars to complete the acquisition.

Bharti, however, said that the company would continue to look at other opportunities to expand its presence in the international arena as and when the opportunities come which are consistent with its (Bharti) vision.