Reuters reports that shares in Indian operator Bharti Airtel fell as much as 4.8 percent today – to their lowest in over three months – following worries that the company will increase by 5-10 percent its offer to buy a stake in South Africa’s MTN. Bharti shares fell to INR365.50 (US$7.65), their lowest since 29 April, before paring some losses to trade down 2.9 percent at INR372.75 by 0755 (GMT). The Financial Times (FT) this morning reported that Bharti has approached the State Bank of India for a US$2 billion loan as part of a plan to offer more cash and fewer shares to sweeten a US$23 billion tie-up with MTN. The FT notes that India’s largest mobile operator is understood to have requested the loan so it could increase the cash component of the deal to about a net US$5 billion, compared with US$4 billion under the original plan.

The move is reportedly aimed at soothing concerns over the alliance with MTN, which Bharti hopes could lead to a full merger. The two companies first entered negotiations last year (which failed), but in May announced that talks had restarted. Last week both operators said they had extended an exclusivity period for negotiation until 31 August. According to the original merger plans, Bharti will acquire a 49 percent shareholding in MTN, while MTN and its shareholders would acquire an approximate 36 percent stake in Bharti, of which 25 percent would be held by MTN with the remainder held directly by its shareholders. The merger would create a telecoms group with combined revenues of over US$20 billion, making it the world’s third-largest mobile phone group, and a customer base of over 200 million, which would combine Bharti’s market-leading Indian business with MTN’s various business units across Africa and the Middle East.