Bharti Airtel gains on acquiring Kenyan mobile brand yuMobile

With the acquisition of yuMobile, the company's subscriber base will expand by 2.7 million

Shares of Bharti Airtel were up nearly 2% at Rs 377 after the telecom major's subsidiary entered into a deal to acquire Essar's Group telecom business in Kenya.

Bharti Airtel, in a statement, said that Airtel Networks Kenya Limited (Airtel Kenya), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel International Netherlands BV has signed a definitive agreement with Essar Telecommunications Kenya Limited, which operates under the brand name yuMobile to acquire its over 2.7 million subscribers.

This transaction is subject to approval from Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) and is likely to be concluded by fourth quarter of 2014. This will make Airtel Kenya a stronger No 2 player in the country. It currenty has about 5 million subscribers in Kenya.

The stock opened at Rs 372 and touched a high of Rs 377 so far on the BSE. Over 600,000 shares were traded on both the stock exchanges so far.