MTN-Bharti Merger Talk Failed: Who is to Blame?

If the merger happened then it would have been perhaps the best example of Indo-African unity. During the apartheid era, India was one of the strongest supporters of ANC. Now, ANC is in power and the relationship is very friendly between these two countries. So, a deal between MTN and Bharati was supposed to be finalized without that much problem. South African government clearly is the villain here as they were keen on keeping MTN as a South Africa based company and did not want foreign high officials be a part in the decision making. The main reason behind such an attitude was that MTN is very important for the country and many people are directly or directly related to it for their livelihood. Any job cut would be bad for the government.

On the other hand, South African decision makers have perhaps something to justify their ground. They wanted duel listing for the company but Indian decision makers did not agree to it.

So, it is up to you to decide who is blame for this merger failure. The good thing that happened is that months of uncertainty just got finished and it can be business as usual for the two companies now.

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