Bharti, MTN shares slide on bourses amid merger talks

A day after Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel renewed efforts to acquire a 49 per cent stake in South Africa’s leading wireless-services provider MTN, shares of both the companies registered losses of as much as 5 per cent on the bourses.

Bharti Airtel today registered the second consecutive fall of over 5 per cent and settled the day at Rs 770.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Earlier during the day, the scrip had touched an intra-day high of Rs 858.80 and a low of Rs 760.05 on the BSE.

Meanwhile, shares of MTN were trading at 125.20 rand, down 3.62 per cent on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The fall in the share price came after a whopping jump of over 9 per cent in the counter yesterday.

Analysts believe the selling pressure in the Bharti Airtel was largely because of concerns over the pressure on the earnings of the Indian telecom firm, pursuant to the merger with MTN.

The MTN counter today was trading in the negative territory as profit booking emerged in the counter at higher levels, market experts said adding that the counter registered its biggest gain in seven months yesterday.

Bharti Airtel yesterday announced the renewal of talks for acquiring 49 per cent stake with South African MTN in an estimated $23 billion deal.