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A day after finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said that dual listing of a firm was not possible as per the existing laws, a South African delegation met senior officials of Securities and Exchange Board of India and Reserve Bank of India to discuss matters related to the proposed Bharti-MTN deal.
The meeting was attended by Sebi executive director Usha Narayanan, Sebi wholetime member Prashant Saran and Reserve Bank chief general manager foreign exchange department Salim Gangadaran among others.
The South African delegation comprised top officials from the National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank.
The meeting, called by the ministry of finance to discuss the multi-billion dollar deal, is understood to have deliberated regulatory hurdles holding back the mega deal, including the issue of dual listing.
Under dual listing securities are listed on more than one exchange for the purpose of adding liquidity to the shares and offering investors a choice on where they want to trade.
Mukherjee had said that the Indian government is in favour of the deal, which if its goes through, will be the biggest in the telecom industry.
"We welcome the deal, but it should be in context of existing laws of the land. These have to be kept in mind," he had said. Mukherjee had also said that the government is looking at the legal issues being faced in the merger, including dual listing.
Market regulator Sebi had recently amended takeover rules, making a 20 per cent additional offer mandatory for an investor who acquires 15 per cent of an Indian firm through American depository receipts or global depository receipts with voting rights.
Under the announced scheme of arrangement, Bharti Airtel is to acquire 49 per cent economic interest in MTN. In return, MTN will acquire 25 per cent economic interest in Bharti Airtel for $2.9 billion and MTN shareholders will acquire another 11 per cent.
MTN is South Africa's largest telecom company with over 103 million subscribers in 21 countries while Bharti Airtel is India's largest integrated private telecom services provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles.