South Africa's MTN Group and Reliance Communications are discussing a possible combination, just days after India's top mobile firm Bharti Airtel ended talks with MTN after failing to agree how to structure a deal.The Two companies may swap shares or take big stakes in a new company as regulatory hurdles and both firms' global ambitions seem to rule out a $66 billion emerging markets telecoms merger.
Analysts said Reliance Communications' chairman, Anil Ambani, who owns two-thirds of India's No.2 mobile operator,like Bharti Airtel would also not want to cede control, casting doubt on media reports that MTN, valued at around $38 billion, planned a reverse takeover of Reliance, which has a market value of about $28 billion.
The two firms might transfer shares to a separate entity in which they would both hold significant stakes, or swap shares in a way to get around potential regulatory hurdles.MTN could take a stake of below 15 percent in Reliance Communications, avoiding having to make an open offer for a further 20 percent, and Reliance could take a minority stake in MTN that avoids regulatory triggers.
Read more in The Economic Times article.
Related Story:
RCom, MTN in exclusive talks over merger
Bharti may rope in SingTel for MTN buy
No comments:
Post a Comment