Mittal plays down dispute between Econet, Zain

"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 on Tuesday.

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.

In the proceedings, Econet made an application for interim measures to prohibit Caltel (Zain), from selling, transferring, disposing of, dealing with or otherwise encumbering the disputed stake until such time as the Arbitral Tribunal has published its final award, in response to which Zain provided certain undertakings to preserve the status quo.
Mittal said the company is in the process of coming out with a funding plan for the deal.
"Once we come out with a funding plan we will lay out everything. Funding is not an issue. All I can say is Singtel as a partner of Bharti, is fully in support of this deal. At appropriate time we will give our message to the investors.. may be this is not the right time," he said.

The Indian telecom firm will be paying USD 9 billion besides a debt liability of USD 1.7 billion to buy African assets of Zain other than in Sudan and Moroco.
Terming Zain as a fantastic company, he said the company has presence in 15 countries in Africa.

Mittal said his company is not forced into the deal by anybody.
"We are not forced into the deal. There is exciting opportunity for Bharti. All of us very happy that we have been given a chance to look at Zain's operations in Africa on exclusive basis," Mittal said.

On Monday Bharti Airtel said that it has entered an exclusive discussion with the Kuwati telecom major Zain until March 25 for the acquisition of the latter's African unit.
Bharti said the discussion to acquire Zain Africa is based on an enterprise value of USD 10.7 billion