Bharti Airtel Ltd.

The country's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel's $10.7-billion offer for buying the African assets of Kuwaiti telecom firm Zain has been accepted by the latter's board yesterday. Africa represents about 62% of Zain's 64.7 million customers and 15% of the groups' net profit. Zain operates in 24 countries including Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. The deal would provide Bharti access to 15 more countries in the region, adding around 40.1 million subscribers to its already 125 million-plus user base. With Bharti having presence in five overseas markets post the deal; it would increase its global presence across 20 regions. The combined revenue of the two entities would be around $12 billion. Bharti is expected to inform the stock exchanges about the deal today when the market opens. 
 
Last month, Bharti agreed to buy 70% of Bangladesh's Warid Telecom for an initial investment of $300 million. It recently also set up a new unit to drive its foreign expansion—focused on opportunities in emerging markets, where it can replicate its low-price, high-volume model. 
 
Overseas acquisition by Bharti at this stage is required, as growth in the domestic market is under pressure due to a fierce tariff war. It's October-December earnings got down to single digit. Bharti Airtel has more than 120 million subscribers in India. So far it has overseas operations in smaller markets like Sri Lanka, Seychelles and Jersey Island.