Bharti Airtel, India’s top mobile operator, said on Tuesday its total likely payout would be about $9 billion for buying Kuwaiti telecom Zain’s Africa assets.
Bharti, which is in exclusive talks until March 25 with Zain for buying its operations in 15 countries, has previously said the deal had an enterprise value of $10.7 billion.
On Tuesday, the Indian firm said the enterprise value was based on Zain Africa unit’s estimated net debt of about $1.7 billion as on Dec 31, 2009.
Bharti also said it had agreed with the Kuwaiti firm that $700 million of the total payable amount would be paid after one year of deal closure.
The total payout would include loans payable by operating companies to Zain Group, it said.
Ahead of the news, Bharti shares closed 4.5 percent down on Tuesday, extending losses for a second day after a 9.2 percent fall in the previous session, on concerns that a huge debt burden to finance the deal could stretch its balance sheet. (Reuters)
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