India’s Bharti Airtel, which has restarted merger talks with MTN Group, said on Tuesday it does not expect funding requirements for the deal to be onerous.
Brokerages estimate net cash outflow of about $4-billion from Bharti in the proposed deal, under which Bharti would pay cash and shares for 49% of the South African firm, and MTN pays cash and stock for a 36% stake in the Indian firm.
”Though this has not been determined at this stage, we do not anticipate the funding requirements to be onerous,” Bharti Airtel said in an emailed response to questions sent by Reuters.
The talks could lead to a merger creating one of the world’s biggest cell phone groups by subscribers through the combination of India’s biggest operator and MTN, which runs networks across 21 markets in Africa and the Middle East. – Reuters