Bharti seeks Gulf funds for MTN bid as UAE's Etisalat plans to join race

13 May 2008

Bharti Airtel, which is looking to acquire a majority stake in South African telecom provider MTN, is reported to be looking at sovereign Gulf funds to finance the deal even as Emirates Telecommunications (Etisalat) of the United Arab Emirates said it was eying a stake in the South African telecom company.

Etisalat, which is planning to acquire a 10 per cent stake in Tata Teleservices, is also eying MTN as part of its expansion plans.

"We are always looking for expansion in Africa. We are evaluating MTN, among other companies." reports quoted its chairman Mohammed Omran as saying in Cairo.

MTN, which serves 51-million users in 16 countries across Africa and Asia, has spent $5 billion over four years to roll out operations in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and to buy into a Pakistani operator.

Omran wants Etisalat to earn at least a quarter of its revenue from Africa within four years.

Bharti has already negotiated $12 billion in financing from a group of banks that includes Standard Chartered Plc. But it has not yet made any bid.