MTN, Reliance Communications to resume merger talks
By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 01 June 2010, 19:56 IST   |    3 Comments
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MTN, Reliance Communications to resume merger talks
Bangalore: MTN and Reliance Communications (RCOM) could reopen their merger negotiations. The deal on the sale of a stake in Reliance Communications was snubbed by Mukesh Ambani two years ago, will now show some positive signal for the external investor as the Ambani brothers agreed to end the agreement that prevented them from competing on each other's turf in a deal. According to Financial Times, MTN had called for a board meeting to discuss a proposal to buy assets in Algeria and elsewhere in Africa worth $10 billion from Orascom of Egypt. But the person said the meeting's agenda has been expanded to include discussions on a possible deal with RCOM. If the deal suceeds, RCOM will become a subsidiary of MTN while Anil Ambani could end up with a 20-25 percent holding in MTN, making him its single-largest shareholder. MTN has entered into nine negotiations for the same objective and the last among them was Bharti Airtel. Bharti could have acquired a 49 percent stake in MTN through the proposed $24 billion transaction while the South African company would have purchased 36 percent of Bharti.