Sunil Bharti Mittal

Shares in India’s Bharti Airtel edged higher 
Tuesday on reports it would sign a US$10,7bn deal to 
acquire the African telecommunications assets of Kuwait’s Zain.

Officials at the New Delhi-based firm declined to comment, citing 
confidentiality rules, but Kuwait’s Al-Watan daily reported the 
signing would take place Tuesday at the headquarters of Zain Africa 
in Amsterdam.

Shares of Bharti Airtel rose nearly 1% 
on the Mumbai stock exchange at midday on Tuesday, outpacing an overall weaker 
market, on the back of the reports.

Once the deal, under which Bharti will acquire Zain’s operations 
in 15 African countries, is complete, the Indian company will become
 the seventh-largest telecoms player in the world.

Zain’s chairman Asaad Al-Banwan, CEO Nabil bin 
Salama and Bharti’s chairman-founder Sunil Bharti Mittal will 
attend the signing, according to the Al-Watan report.

Even before the deal was clinched, though, reports said Gabon
 had objected to the sale of Zain’s assets in the country to Bharti 
because of Zain’s alleged noncompliance with regulatory norms.

Analysts have warned that regulatory issues in the countries 
where Bharti is slated to take over Zain’s networks could
 complicate the Indian company’s integration of the new assets.

With the acquisition of Zain’s African operations, excluding
 networks in Morocco and Sudan, the combined entity would have more 
than 165m subscribers.

The signing of the deal would fulfill Bharti’s dream of gaining 
a foothold in Africa, one of the world’s least developed telecoms
 markets, after two failed attempts to tie up with SA’s MTN.  — Sapa-AFP

• Image credit: World Economic Forum

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