Indian mobile operator Bharti appears to be closing in on its acquisition of the pan-African and Middle Eastern mobile group MTN as other potential buyers move to distance themselves from a deal. Bharti confirmed earlier this week it was in “exploratory” talks with MTN over a reported US$19 billion bid for a 51 percent share in the Johannesburg-based operator. This prompted speculation that a number of other suitors could launch counter-bids and spark a bidding war. However, China Mobile confirmed yesterday that it had not placed a bid, while other operators linked to a possible deal – including Vodafone, Reliance and Orascom – have either ruled themselves out or remained silent. Vodafone, for example, said in a statement that it “remains committed to its [joint] partnership with Telkom in South Africa, in [rival MTN mobile operator] Vodacom.”

Even without a bidding war, however, reports suggest that Bharti may be struggling to raise enough capital to buy-out MTN, which – with a market cap of around US$35 billion – is not much smaller than Bharti itself. The Hindi Business Line reports that Bharti is in talks with a number of investment banks, including Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan, to help fund the purchase, while Singapore’s SingTel, which owns 30.5 percent of Bharti, is also believed to be involved. Investment ratings companies Standard & Poor’s and Fitch both say they may need to downgrade Bharti’s debt rating once details of the transaction are made public.