Country’s largest cellular operator Bharti Airtel is planning to raise its offer to about $22.63 per share to acquire control of South African mobile player MTN, says a media report. Quoting a person familiar with the situation, The Wall Street Journal on Monday said Bharti is considering raising the offer to about 175 South African rand or $22.63 per share for control of MTN. “There is no official bid yet, and MTN management insists that it be a minimum 200 South African rand per share,” WSJ reported quoting the person. When contacted, a Bharti spokesperson declined to comment.
The person said the official bid could still be the original 160-165 rand, “depending on the terms of the agreement, how big of a stake MTN is willing to sell and other factors,” WSJ reported. Last week, both Bharti and MTN announced that they are in exploratory talks which may or may not lead to a deal. Media reports said Bharti whose market capitalisation as on May 9 2008 stood at Rs 1,59,841.77 crore could make an official bid for MTN this week for a 51% stake. Earlier, media reports said that Bharti is looking at acquiring 51% stake in MTN for about $19 billion. If the deal takes place, it will create world’s sixth largest mobile company with 130 million subscribers in more than 20 countries. After touching an intra-day high of Rs 847, shares of Bharti Airtel fell by 0.47% to close at Rs 838.35.
