Pittsburgh: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today strongly backed Bharti group’s efforts for acquiring stakes in South African telecom gaint MTN when he took up the issue with President Jacob Zuma and hoped that the deal will go through without any “discrimination”.

“As far as MTN issue is concerned, I mentioned it to (President) Zuma. I sincerely hope that this deal would go through and there will be no discrimination against it,” he told reporters in reply to a question at a press conference here.

Singh said officials of the two countries would discuss the issue.

Bharti and MTN are looking at an $23 billion deal to create the world’s third largest mobile firm with over 200 million subscribers. According to the initial agreement, MTN and its shareholders would acquire 36 per cent stake in Bharti and Bharti would acquire 49 per cent stake in MTN.

The process would see a $13 billion transaction in cash and $10 billion in shares.

South African team to brief FM on MTN Deal
Cape Town: A team of South African officials from the country’s National Treasury and central bank will brief the country’s finance minister on September 28 after travelling to India to discuss a proposed transaction between MTN Group and Bharti Airtel. The team will return to South Africa tomorrow, Thoraya Pandy, a spokeswoman for the Treasury, said in a telephone interview today.

source: msn

Tags: Bharti Airtel, bharti airtel MTN deal, bharti MTN deal

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