Bharti clinches Zain deal

Zain board approved the deal on Wednesday, and both the companies expects to sign the deal in the next few days Zain said.

“Upon signing, the parties will move towards getting any required approvals. It has been reported that Bharti has already secured the entire financing requirement of $8.3 billion for this transaction,” Zain said.

In all, $ 7.5 billion debt would be dollar-denominated and the remaining about $1 billion will be in rupee loan from SBI.

Bharti would pay $9 billion in cash to Zain, including $700 million to be paid one year after the deal closes. Bharti will also take $1.7 billion debt from the Zain after singing the deal.
Bharti will also battle with South Africa telecom major MTN, with which it tried to seal a $24 billion deal before tie-up talks collapsed in October.

After the deal Bharti will have a combined sales of $13 billion and clients in 15 African countries from Burkina Faso to Zambia. However the Zain will continue to hold its operation in Moracco and Sudan. Under the agreement, Bharti, which already has 125 million Indian subscribers, would get 42 million new clients in Africa, making it the world’s seventh-largest telecom company.