Mittal plays down dispute between Econet, Zain

Bharti Airtel chief Sunil Mittal today said Airtel was not bothered about the efforts of Econet, a minority shareholder of African mobile operator Zain, to block sale of that company's Nigerian assets to it.

"The seller has to deal with what he is selling. As far as we are concerned we are looking at buying Zain's African assets in Nigeria. I am sure the selling party would have an idea about what they are selling. I am not concerned about that", he told 'ET Now' news channel.

Econet Wireless, a small shareholder in Zain Nigeria, has said that it is pursuing arbitration against the Kuwait-based Zain.

"Econet Wireless can confirm that it is currently pursuing arbitration proceedings against Caltel (now Zain) and others to challenge the transaction by which Caltel purported to purchase a majority stake in Vee Networks, now Zain Nigeria," Econet said in a statement yesterday.

Bharti had twice in the past tried to acquire African telecom giant MTN through a complex financial mechanism but talks failed on both the occasions.

Under the terms of the original Vee Networks' shareholders agreement, Econet had a right of first refusal over the stake, a right which was denied in 2006, leading to arbitration between the two.