It would have been a blockbuster deal; that is, the merger of Bharti Airtel (India's largest mobile operator) and MTN Group (the largest mobile operator in Africa). But, cultural and control issues intervened - and, the deal essentially died this week.

If the parties could have pulled off the transaction, the combined entity would have a market value of $70 billion.

True, it might be a missed opportunity to add huge scale (which is critical in the mobile business). Yet, Bharti still has lots of growth left in India. Besides, the company needs to fend off the competition, such as Reliance and Vodafone Group (NYSE: VOD).

Interestingly, it looks like MTN is still in play (this is according to a piece in the Wall Street Journal, which is a paid publication). For example, it looks like Reliance is in talks with the company, for good reason: MTN has a fast-growing franchise in over 20 countries.

In fact, there could be a bidding war. Some of the other potential bidders include: Deutsche Telekom AG, VimpelCom and Etisalat.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

MTN still buyout bait? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 25 May 2008 18:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.