India’s Bharti Airtel has received bids from more than a dozen overseas banks willing to fund its planned merger with South Africa’s MTN, reports the Economic Times today. The Indian newspaper said that 13 banks from the US, Europe and Asia had submitted funding proposals worth US$500 million each ahead of a deadline yesterday, raising hopes that the US$23 billion merger was close to being completed. Bharti is likely to decide on the banks it will use this week and finalise the financing by 29 August, the report said. According to investment bank sources, Bharti is looking at an overseas loan component of around US$3 billion to US$3.5 billion (divided into lots of US$500 million) and a rupee funding of around US$1.5 billion to US$2 billion. The rupee component of the financing is double initial estimates, suggesting strong interest from local Indian banks.

The overseas banks said to have submitted bids include Barclays, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Calyon, Citi, DBS, HSBC, JP Morgan and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. The State Bank of India and a host of other public sector banks in India, including Punjab National Bank, are said to be looking at funding the rupee option, while Bharti’s advisor on the deal, Standard Chartered Bank, has reportedly offered to underwrite the acquisition to the tune of US$5 billion. 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 deal is already the largest ever cross-border M&A deal attempted by an Indian company. Reports last week suggested that Bharti has increased its offer for its stake in MTN by as much as 10 percent above what was originally planned. However, the Indian market-leader today declined to comment on its funding plans.