New reports are emerging that China Mobile is in place to buy Millicom International Cellular (MIC), after South African operator MTN yesterday announced a surprise agreement to acquire Dubai based telecoms investor Investcom for $5.53bn (ВЈ3bn).
As a result of the agreement MTN’s subscriber base would increase to 28.1 million across 21 countries, making it the second biggest mobile operator in the region, behind Egypt’s Orascom Telecom.
Investcom also said it had withdrawn its offer to buy MIC, which has been on sale since January. The news will come as a blow to MIC, with reports indicating Investcom had tabled a leading $5bn offer for the company.
Other bidders in the running for MIC are believed to have placed offers well under $5bn, and China Mobile has been named as a bidding party once again, despite denying interest.
Late last month, the leading Chinese operator denied that it, or its parent, had made a bid for MIC.
Other interested parties are thought to be Egypt’s Orascom, Kuwait’s MTC, Norway’s Telenor and Mexico’s America Movil.
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