Indian telecommunications services company, Bharti Airtel is in acquisition talks with Kenya's Telkom Kenya.
With nearly 500 million subscribers, New Delhi-based Bharti Airtel is the second largest mobile network operator in India and the third largest mobile network operator in the world. It has operations in 20 Asian and African market; with the brand name 'Airtel' in some.
Telkom Kenya on the other hand is a public private partnership telecommunications company owned by Helios and the Kenyan government.
According to reports, the acquisition of Telkom Kenya is expected to give Bharti Airtel a solid footing in the East African region and generally improve its valuation in the continent ahead of its initial public offering (IPO).
The IPO was somewhat delayed around late last year due to some issues, but kicked back up into full force with the appointment of global banks including JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs to prepare.
With Telkom Kenya in the bag, Bharti Airtel is well on its way to a healthy IPO outing.
