India’s largest mobile operator Bharti has bid a reported US$19 billion for a 51 percent stake in MTN, the Johannesburg-based pan-African and Middle Eastern mobile group. Shares in MTN surged to a two-and-a-half year high yesterday after both companies confirmed that an offer had been tabled following weeks of speculation. The bid, which reportedly includes around US$12 billion in financing from investment banks Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered, values MTN at around US$37 billion and would be the largest-ever overseas acquisition by an Indian company if it goes ahead. However, in a short statement released yesterday, Bharti said only that “discussions are still at an early stage, are exploratory in nature and may or may not lead to any transaction.”

Bloomberg reports today that confirmation of Bharti’s approach could spark a bidding war for MTN, citing a UBS report that suggests Vodafone, India’s Reliance and China Mobile could all be interested in bidding for the operator, though none of these companies confirmed this speculation. Vodafone was linked with MTN earlier this year. Bloomberg also notes a report from Citigroup that claims that Singtel, which owns 30.5 percent of Bharti, may be “directly” involved in the MTN bid. MTN has around 68.2 million mobile subscribers covering 21 markets across Africa and the Middle East.