المقال منقول باللغة الانجليزية للامانة و الحرص علي عدم تغيير الرسالة و المضمون
يمكنك عزيزي الزائر ترجمة المقال عن طريق زر الترجمة في عامود الخدمات الايمن في بيت المال
By Vernon Wessels and Janice Kew
April 23 (Bloomberg) -- A simple acquisition by MTN Group Ltd. of units owned by Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding SAE may have a better chance of success than the complex Bharti Airtel Ltd. merger the South African company abandoned last year, an MTN investor said.
MTN approached banks for $5 billion to help fund the acquisition of units from Orascom in a deal that may be worth as much as $10 billion, people with knowledge of the plan said yesterday. Johannesburg-based MTN said today that it has started unspecified talks that may or may not lead to a transaction. Separately, Orascom, the Middle East’s largest mobile-phone company, today asked that its global depositary shares in London be suspended pending an announcement.
“It seems more palatable than Bharti,” said Steve Minnaar, a fund manager with Cape Town-based Abax Investments Ltd., which manages the equivalent of $5.1 billion, including MTN stock. “It looks like they could do a simpler, cleaner deal. It was hard to see obvious value-creation in the Bharti deal.”
MTN and India’s Bharti failed for the second time last year to conclude a $23 billion merger that would have created the world’s third-largest mobile phone company by subscribers. The transaction would have been done in two steps, with Bharti getting a 49 percent stake in MTN in a cash and stock offer and MTN acquiring a 36 percent holding in the New Delhi operator.
“It all depends on price” as no details on a transaction has been made public yet, Minnaar said. A tie-up with Orascom will be “good for diversification for MTN” to reduce its reliance on South Africa and Nigeria, he said.
Market Share
MTN wants to add new markets to its 21 businesses across the Middle East and Africa while also consolidating its position on the continent after Bharti on March 30 said it bid $9 billion for 15 of Zain’s African assets.
“MTN has penetrated its markets so well already that it now needs to steal market share from somewhere else,” said Garth Mackenzie, a derivatives trader at Imara S.P. Reid in Johannesburg. “This deal would not be as big a deal as Bharti may have been and so may have a better chance of flying.”
MTN rose 2.3 percent to 110 rand in Johannesburg, paring yesterday’s 2.6 percent drop. Markets in Egypt are closed today for the weekend.
Orascom operates in North Korea, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Central African Republic, Burundi Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Orascom is reviewing all its options regarding its Algerian business following a tax dispute with authorities in the country, Morgan Stanley analysts, including Sean Gardiner and Madhvendra Singh, said in a note yesterday. Orascom Chairman Naguib Sawiris said on April 20 that the company has been blocked from moving its Algerian division’s profit out of the country.
Last Updated: April 23, 2010 11:40 EDT
from bloomberg
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