South African cellphone operator MTN Group said on Friday it was unable to reach a deal with India’s Reliance Communications and the companies mutually decided to end exclusive talks.
MTN and Reliance Communications started exclusive talks on May 26 and the deadline was extended to July 21.
The extension, announced on July 10, came after a claim on shares in the Indian company by Mukesh Ambani, estranged brother of Reliance Communications chairperson Anil Ambani, and a sharp drop in share prices created obstacles to completing a deal by the original deadline of July 8.
A deal would have created a $66-billion emerging-markets telecoms group with operations in about two dozen countries and about 120-million subscribers.
When the talks began, MTN had a market capitalisation of $38-billion and Reliance Communications was worth $28-billion, but a sharp slide in markets has eroded valuations. — Reuters