Mumbai, March 25: Bharti Airtel gained over three percent on the BSE amid reports that the board of Kuwait’s Zain Telecom has accepted the Indian firm’s USD 10.7 billion takeover bid for most of its African assets.
Shares of Bharti Airtel opened firm on the Bombay Stock Exchange and surged 3.22 percent to a high of Rs 316.70 from its previous close.
On the National Stock Exchange, the stock moved up nearly three percent to a high of Rs 316.
Over 14.68 lakh shares of Bharti Airtel changed hands in the early morning trade on the two bourses.
The board of Kuwait-based Zain Telecom is understood to have accepted the takeover bid for its African assets by Bharti yesterday. However, there was no official confirmation from Zain.
The exclusivity period for discussion between the two telecom firms for a possible buyout deal is to end today.
Bharti has valued Zain’s African assets at USD 10.7 billion. The deal is likely to result in Bharti paying out around USD 9 billion based on the estimated net debt of approximately USD 1.7 billion as on December 31, 2009.
Bharti Airtel had last week tied up USD 8.3 billion debt with financial institutions to fund the transaction while the remaining 700 million would be paid a year after the deal.
Post acquisition, Bharti-Zain combined will have revenues of USD 13 billion with a subscriber base of over 163 million.
–PTI