Ramaphosa: In demand

Mumbai, May 15: If Bharti Airtel gains control of South Africa’s MTN, the chairman of the combined entity will be MTN’s non-executive chief Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa.

The Indian company has reportedly made this offer at a meeting with MTN officials yesterday. Sunil Mittal, Bharti’s chairman and managing director, is likely to hold the post of chief executive officer in the entity.

Bharti has offered the post of deputy group chief executive officer to MTN’s chief executive officer Phuthuma Nhleko.

Though there are no differences between the two sides on the management structure, the deal is facing some obstacles.

Sources said that if Bharti Airtel was to go for 60 per cent cash and 40 per cent equity to fund the deal, it might result in the foreign holding in Bharti crossing the permissible 74 per cent in India.

While the top guns of Bharti and MTN were engaged in discussions today as well, Mittal is understood to have offered MTN a stake in his various companies and subsidiaries to overcome the foreign direct investment hurdle. However, the MTN leadership is said to be seeking a more “transparent share of equity’’.

Bharti had earlier said its discussions with MTN were “aimed at combining the strengths of the two leading emerging market players and accordingly veering towards possible structures to achieve this objective”.

Named in 2007 as one of the Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people worldwide, Ramaphosa, had chaired South Africa’s black economic empowerment commission in the past and was learnt to be in talks with the South African government about the deal.

“He is a very influential personality in the country and has started briefing the commission as well as the government officials about the deal,” said a well placed source.

The commission seeks to provide equal employment opportunities to the blacks in South African companies and aims to increase the amount of black people who manage, own and control enterprises and productive assets.