“The debt is a sufficiently big number to add to Bharti’s balance sheet, on top of whatever it has to take on to finance the rest of the transaction,” said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, chief strategist at SMC Capitals Ltd., in New Delhi. “All that debt will likely reduce earnings per share for the next few quarters at least.”

1. Bharti May Pay $9 Billion for Zain’s Africa Business
By Mehul Srivastava
Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Bharti Airtel Ltd., South Asia’s biggest phone company, may pay $9 billion to
buy the African mobile-phone operations of Kuwait’s Zain, the New Delhi-based company said in a
statement yesterday.
The total size of the transaction is $10.7 billion, including $1.7 billion of debt, the statement said.
Bharti hadn’t previously disclosed details of the offer. Zain’s African business spans 15 countries from
Nigeria to Uganda.
“The debt is a sufficiently big number to add to Bharti’s balance sheet, on top of whatever it has to
take on to finance the rest of the transaction,” said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, chief strategist at
SMC Capitals Ltd., in New Delhi. “All that debt will likely reduce earnings per share for the next few
quarters at least.”
The Zain offer is Bharti’s third attempt to enter Africa. The company, led by billionaire Chairman Sunil
Mittal, has tried to gain access to faster-growing markets, including a second failed attempt last year
to buy South Africa’s MTN Group Ltd., for about $23 billion. Zain and Bharti have set March 25 as
the deadline for completing exclusive talks, the companies said in separate statements on Feb. 15.
Of the total, $700 million will be paid one year after the deal closes, Bharti said in the statement. Both
parties have agreed to a $150 million fee if either pulls out before the transaction is complete, the
statement said.
Bharti fell 4.9 percent to 271.6 rupees, its lowest in almost 16 months, at close of trading in Mumbai
yesterday, after plunging 9.2 percent on the previous day.