من هيك عم يبكي الخرافي

1. NEW DELHI: What began in Kuwait overnight Tuesday as the biggest telecom deal in West Asia this year appeared to be unravelling by Wednesday evening in New Delhi, with state-run BSNL and MTNL — purportedly the main players in an “Indo-Malaysian” consortium set to buy a 46% stake in Kuwait’s Zain for $13.7 billion — refusing to be linked to any such grouping. The drama began in Kuwait when Bard al-Khorafi, whose Khorafi Group holds 20% in Kuwait’s largest phone company, announced at a news conference that they, along with other shareholders, were selling 46% of Zain to a consortium made of Malaysia’s al-Bukhari Group, BSNL, MTNL and a little-known Indian group called Vavasi. In a statement to Kuwait stock exchange, a Khorafi-controlled company National Investments said BSNL and MTNL were part of a consortium that would pay 2 Kuwaiti dinars a share for the stake in Zain, West Asia’s third-largest telecom operator. However, BSNL flatly denied being part of any such grouping, only saying “some parties” had approached it to join a buyers’ consortium. “Just because we gave certain people a hearing, our names cannot be used by them, and we cannot be linked to any consortium,” a top BSNL executive, who asked not to be named, told ET. The executive said while BSNL was interested in Zain’s African operations, it would only partner MTNL and not a private player when bidding for assets overseas. “We have not even sought DoT’s approval for entering into talks with any player,” he said. Earlier, Vavasi MD Farid Arifuddin had said in Kuwait that there was a good fit between Zain and Indian companies in the consortium. “What we bring to the transaction is our experience, especially our prospective partners from India. They have the experience of operating in low-cost countries,” he said. But by evening, Mr Arifuddin toned down his comments, saying Vavasi had only initial discussions with BSNL and MTNL, regarding the consortium. “I had not said the Indian telecom companies were part of the consortium,” he told ET, putting question marks on any such deal, which curiously is yet to be confirmed by Zain’s top management. “This (funding) cannot fall in place overnight for a deal of this size. It will take around three months time,” Mr Arifuddin said, adding that his group would seek other partners if the state-run firms were reluctant. The news from Kuwait caught both BSNL and MTNL offguard. MTNL shares closed nearly 1% lower at Rs 93.60. Later in the day, BSNL and MTNL issued a joint statement saying they had taken no view “regarding participation in the said consortium as reported”. The two firms, however, said they were always on the lookout “to explore all types of overseas business opportunities to expand their operations.” Top DoT officials also weighed in, saying while Zain shareholders had approached the firms for a stake sale, the government was not aware of BSNL & MTNL being part of any consortium.

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

الخبر



http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News-By-Industry/Telecom/BSNL-MTNL-say-wrong-number-to-Kuwaits-Zain/articleshow/4992607.cms