SingTel: Bharti-MTN deal talks at very early stage

Southeast Asia's largest phone company Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) said on Wednesday that the talks between its Indian associate Bharti Airtel and South African mobile firm MTN were at a 'very early stage', according to a Reuters report from Singapore.

The report quoted SingTel chief executive officer (CEO) Chua Sock Koong as saying that the talks were "at an extremely preliminary, exploratory stage".

The company's CEO for international operations, Lim Chuan Poh, was quoted as saying that it was too early to determine if Bharti would make a bid for MTN or whether SingTel would provide financing for the deal. The executives were talking at the company's annual results event in Singapore.

SingTel, which holds a 15.58 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel, had earlier said that the company was eyeing a potential acquisition in South African operator MTN through Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel.

On Tuesday, Bharti said: "This is further to Bharti's earlier statements regarding the ongoing exploratory discussions with MTN. Bharti would like to clarify that it has not made any bid, nor is there any requirement to make a bid, as has been incorrectly speculated and reported.

The discussions being held are aimed at combining the strengths of the two leading players and, accordingly, veering towards possible structures to achieve this objective. Bharti would like to reiterate that these discussions are still exploratory in nature and may or may not lead to any transactions."

SingTel posted a 4.8 per cent full-year rise in net profit, which was driven by mobile subscriber additions from India.

SingTel is 56 per cent owned by state-linked investment firm Temasek.