New Delhi: Communications and IT Minister A Raja on Tuesday said the proposed USD 23-billion deal between telecom majors Bharti Airtel and South Africa's MTN was not under his ministry's ambit.
"The deal is not within the domain of our ministry," Raja said.
He said as far as he knew, the Finance Ministry was dealing with the issue. "The question of supporting the deal will not come right now. Whatever may be, it will be placed before us, then I will see."
A South African government delegation led by a senior treasury department official is scheduled to meet Indian government officials on Tuesday to push the deal. The team will reportedly also meet officials of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the market regulator.
Bharti proposes to buy 36 percent of the South African company by offering shareholders half a Bharti share, whereas MTN will get a 25 percent stake in Bharti for USD 2.9 billion and through issuing new shares equal to 25 percent of its share capital.
The potential transaction between the two companies is proposed to create a leading telecom service provider group, aligning Bharti's market-leading Indian business with MTN's growing African and Middle Eastern operations.
Bharti had ended talks with MTN last year, rejecting the proposal that would have made the Indian firm a subsidiary of MTN. Following that, the South African group started negotiations with the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, which also failed.
However, Bharti and MTN started negotiations again May 25 this year to forge an alliance that would make it the biggest deal ever in the industry.
IANS
First Published: Tuesday, September 22, 2009, 14:28