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Bharti Airtel poised to acquire Millicom assets in Sri Lanka
07 October 2009
Fresh from its failed attempt to acquire South Africa’s MTN, Bharti Airtel is considering acquiring the assets of Millicom International Cellular in Sri Lanka.
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Bharti Airtel Millicom MTN Tigo Celtel Sri Lanka
The acquisition, should it complete, would cost Bharti somewhere between $100 million and $120 million. Millicom International Cellular is a Luxembourg-headquartered cellular telephony provider. Among its several carrier assets is Celtel, the Sri Lankan mobile operator that trades under the Tigo brand, in which it holds 100% of the shares.
Millicom is reportedly keen to divest other Asian operations in Cambodia and Laos. GTB
Comment: Bharti certainly has the firepower to complete the deal but acquiring an additional business in Sri Lanka – Airtel already has an operation – is no big deal and represents a large step down from an acquisition of the size of MTN.