Airtel denies MTN bid

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Rebutting claims that Bhrati Airtel was in the process of bidding for the South African telecommunication’s group MTN, Akhil Gupta, CFO and joint managing director, Bharti Airtel Ltd, that company had no such plans at this point of time.

Speaking to media persons on Thursday, Gupta said that the company was not contemplating any such acquisition, and that the only topic of discussion in the board meeting had been of the 2007-08 results.

MTN with 68.2 million customers has a market value of $33 billion. Media reports on Wednesday suggested that Bharti was being advised by Standard Chartered and Singtel was being advised by Goldman Sachs on the deal. However, according to industry sources, Bharti Airtel is considered to be a conservative company, which would rather go for smaller acquisitions and is not a very aggressive acquirer. The company has explicitly stated that they would look at possibilities of acquiring in emerging markets and explore various options.

Bharti Airtel Ltd, declared its annual results on Thursday, telecom service provider recorded a whooping 46% increase in the total revenues for the year 200-09.