The government today said it has asked Bharti to furnish all details of its proposed $23-billion deal with South African company MTN for legal scrutiny.
“We have asked for formal request/papers about the deal from the company... There seems to be no problem with the deal but, still, we want to be sure (about the compliance),” Minister of Corporate Affairs Salman Khurshid said, adding that the matter will be referred to the law ministry for legal opinion.
Bharti chief Sunil Mittal had met Khursheed earlier this week and is learnt to have apprised him of the deal, while seeking clarity in the existing corporate laws to take the deal forward.
Bharti has reopened talks with the South African company for acquiring a 49 per cent stake, exactly a year after it pulled out of negotiations alleging that the foreign company had deviated from agreement. The two companies have signed an agreement to hold exclusive talks for a deal that could include $10 billion in cash and $13 billion in shares and see emergence of a combined entity of $20 billion in terms of revenue and 200 billion subscribers globally.
“We will refer the Bharti-MTN deal to the law ministry to look at various aspects of the deal,” Khursheed said.
Stating that the partnership would create an emerging market “telecom powerhouse”, Mittal had said “...both companies would stand to gain significant benefits from sharing each other’s best practices in addition to savings emanating from enhanced scales”.