Bangalore, September 27: The proposed $23-billion Bharti-MTN deal, which had run into trouble over the issue of dual listing and the revised Sebi takeover norms, received a shot in the arm with the South African President Jacob Zuma assuring Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the deal would not be subject to any discriminatory treatment in his country.
The Prime Minister said, “I did mention this (the Bharti-MTN issue) to President Zuma, and told him I sincerely hope this deal will go through.” He said the two agreed the matter could be discussed further with the South African government. “As far as MTN issue is concerned, I mentioned it to Jacob Zuma. I sincerely hope that this deal would go through and there will be no discrimination against it,” he told reporters in reply to a question at a press conference here.
A senior government official told that India fully supported the deal if it did not “cross the red lines” and if there was honesty of purpose. The statement comes a day after a team of South African officials met a team of officials from the RBI, Sebi and the finance ministry in Mumbai to discuss the policy and regulatory issues surrounding the deal. Speaking to FE over the phone, South Africa’s National Treasury spokesperson Thoraya Pandy said the officials would return on Monday morning and brief the government on the outcome of the meetings.
“I will brief you further only once the officials are back from India on Monday morning and brief us here on the outcome of their meetings,” Pandy said. With the deadline for concluding the exclusive negotiations coming to an end on September 30, it remains to be seen whether the two sides extend the deadline once again as they have done twice in the past or initiate some sort of a memorandum of understanding to take their talks ahead and mollify markets in both the countries.
-Agencies