Bharti Airtel?s board is understood to be meeting on Saturday to take stock of its negotiations with the Kuwaiti telecom firm Zain to buy its African assets for $9 billion.
Sources said that Bharti might put part of the purchase price in an escrow account to protect it from potential problems, including an ownership dispute in Zain?s Nigeria operations. The companies are in exclusive talks until March 25 and Bharti is conducting a due diligence assessment of the Zain assets.
Currently, Bharti is aiming to meet the March 25 deadline, but there could be a slippage of a day or two. Meanwhile, the financing details are likely to be finalised in the next two days. When contacted a Bharti spokesman declined to comment.
Bharti and Zain have said that $700 million of the purchase price would be paid a year after the completion of the deal, and in all likelihood a part of it would be put in the escrow account. A dispute between Zain Nigeria and South Africa-based minority shareholder Econet Wireless Holdings could cause problems for Bharti?s acquisition of Zain Africa. Bharti is aiming to raise up to $8.5 billion in offshore loans to fund the deal and has issued a term sheet to banks.