Comments on: SA government torpedoes MTN, Bharti deal http://www.techcentral.co.za/mtn-bharti-deal-is-off/10274/ South Africa's quality technology news source Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:26:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Matthew French http://www.techcentral.co.za/mtn-bharti-deal-is-off/10274/comment-page-1/#comment-289 Matthew French Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:30:53 +0000 http://www.techcentral.co.za/?p=10274#comment-289 As much as I would like to blame the South African government for this deal breaking down, I think the restrictions imposed by Indian law are more to blame. MTN shareholders were already muttering about the deal. Even if the SA government had not intervened there is a strong chance the shareholders would have blocked it. And if the deal meant MTN would have to leave the JSE then that chance would probably have become a certainty. I wonder if they discussed the possibility of Bharti listing only on the JSE? That would have been an interesting way to bypass the legal restrictions. But Bharti shareholders would probably have rejected that for the same reason? As much as I would like to blame the South African government for this deal breaking down, I think the restrictions imposed by Indian law are more to blame.

MTN shareholders were already muttering about the deal. Even if the SA government had not intervened there is a strong chance the shareholders would have blocked it. And if the deal meant MTN would have to leave the JSE then that chance would probably have become a certainty.

I wonder if they discussed the possibility of Bharti listing only on the JSE? That would have been an interesting way to bypass the legal restrictions. But Bharti shareholders would probably have rejected that for the same reason?

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