Bharti acquires 70% stake in Warid Telecom
Telecom major Bharti Airtel has clinched a deal to buy a controlling stake (70%) in Bangladesh’s fourth-biggest mobile phone operator Warid Telecom. The deal will be announced in New Delhi on Tuesday, people familiar with the development told ET.
It is also learnt that, India’s largest telco has got political clearance from the Bangladesh government, including the country’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who is currently on a visit to India.
The deal also makes Bharti the first Indian telco to make in-roads into Bangladesh mobile market, where several foreign players already operate. In 2004, Egypt’s Orascom bought out Bangladesh’s Sheba, a year later, Singapore’s Singtel acquired a 45% stake in Bangladesh Telecom and in 2009, Japan’s NTT DoCoMo paid $350 million to buy a minority stake (30%) in AKTEL, majority owned by Malaysia’s Axiata.
Last week, Bangladesh’s telecom regulator had approved Bharti Airtel’s bid to buy a controlling stake in Warid Telecom, and has asked for the details of the Indian telco to pump in $300 million into the country’s fourth-largest operator. The Bangladesh government also wants Bharti’s investments in Warid to be over $1 billion over the next couple of years. In December 2009, Bharti sought Bangladesh telecom regulator’s permission to buy a 70% stake from the Abu Dhabi group, the owner of Warid.
The Sunil Mittal-promoted company, which already has operations in Sri Lanka, is pressing ahead with its international ambitions just two months after it failed in its second attempt to merge with South Africa’s MTN. The deal also signals Bharti’s intention to expand overseas through smaller buys across Asia and Africa.
