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Bharti shares rise on Zain Africa deal hopes
Shares in Bharti Airtel rose on Monday morning on hopes India's top telecoms firm is heading towards a smooth landing in its USD 9 billion deal talks to buy Kuwaiti telecom Zain's African operations.
Bharti's talks with Zain mark the third time the Indian firm has tried to get its hands on a meaningful African business after two failed bids for South Africa's MTN.
It has been hunting for emerging market assets as its home turf becomes fiercely competitive and call charges plummet in the world's fastest growing mobile market.
Bharti and Zain also look to have cleared a potential stumbling block over ownership of Zain's assets in Nigeria, that is 65% owned by the Kuwaiti firm.
A source told Reuters last week Bharti might put part of the purchase price in an escrow account to protect it from potential problems such as that in Nigeria. The unit is a crown jewel, without which Bharti would not close the deal.
In Kuwait, Zain said its due diligence process was on schedule and that work on final deal documents could take place after its board meeting on Wednesday.
The source also told Reuters last week Bharti was aiming to meet the March 25 deadline, though there was a chance of one or two days slippage in the actual deal being announced.
