Early life

Sunil Mittal, was born in Ludhiana, Punjab, India. His father, Sat Pal Mittal had been the Member of Parliament (M.P) from Ludhiana. He first joined the Wynberg Allen School in Mussoorie,[5] but later attended Scindia School at Gwalior and he graduated in 1976 from Punjab University, Chandigarh, with a Bachelor of Arts and Science for which he studied in Arya College for Boys, a local college in Ludhiana.[6] His father died of cardiac arrest in 1992.[1] [edit]Entrepreneurial

ventures

A first generation entrepreneur, Mittal started his first business in April 1976[7] at the age of 18, with a capital investment of 20,000 (US$446) borrowed from his father. His first business was to make crankshafts for local bicycle manufacturers.[8] In 1980, he along with his brothers Rakesh, Rajan started an Import Enterprise named Bharti Overseas Trading Corporation.[5] He sold his bicycle parts and yarn factories and moved to Mumbai.[8] In 1981, he purchased importing licences from exporting companies in Punjab.[7] He then imported thousands of Suzuki Motors's portable electric-powergenerators from Japan. The importing of generators was suddenly banned by the then Indian Government and just two licences to manufacture generators in India were issued to two companies. In 1984, he started assembling push-button phones in India,[7] which he earlier used to import from a Taiwan company, Kingtel, replacing the old fashioned, bulky rotary phones that were in use in the country then. Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) was incorporated and entered into a technical tie up with Siemens AG of Germany for manufacture of electronic push button phones. By the early 1990s, Mittal was making fax machines, cordless phones and other telecom gear. Mittal says, "In 1983, the government imposed a ban on the import of gensets. I was out of business overnight. Everything I was doing came to a screeching halt. I was in trouble. The question then was: what should I do next? Then, opportunity came calling. While in Taiwan, I noticed the popularity of the push-button phone -- something which India hadn't seen then. We were still using those rotary dials with no speed dials or redials. I sensed my chance and embraced the telecom business. I started marketing telephones, answering/fax machines under the brand name Beetel and the company picked up really fast.". He named his first push-button phones as 'Mitbro'.
[5] [1]

In 1992, he successfully bid for one of the four mobile phone network licences auctioned in India. One of the conditions for the Delhi cellular license was that the bidder have some experience as a telecom operator. So, Mittal clinched a deal with the French telecom group Vivendi. He was one of the first Indian entrepreneurs to identify the mobile telecom business as a major growth area. His plans were finally approved by the Government in 1994[7] and he launched services inDelhi in

[1]

1995, when Bharti Cellular Limited (BCL) was formed to offer cellular services under the brand name AirTel. Within a few years Bharti became the first telecom company to cross the 2-million mobile subscriber mark. Bharti also brought down the STD/ISD cellular rates in India under brand name 'Indiaone'.
[7]

IndiaOne was Indias first private national as well as the international long-distance service

provider, and, thus, became a major factor in Bharti's success by providing services cheaply. In November 2006, he struck a joint venture deal with Wal-Mart, the US retail giant, to start a number of retail stores across India. In July 2006, he attracted many key executives from Reliance ADAG, NIS Sparta and created Bharti Comtel. In May 2008, it emerged that Sunil Bharti Mittal was exploring the possibility of buying the MTN Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company with coverage in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. The Financial Times reported that Bharti was considering offering US$45 billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which would be the largest overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm. However, both sides emphasize the tentative nature of the talks, while The Economist magazine noted, "If anything, Bharti would be marrying up," as MTN has more subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic coverage.[9] However, the talks fell apart as MTN group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new company.[3] In May 2009, Bharti Airtel again confirmed that it was in talks with MTN and the companies agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively by 31 July 2009. Bharti Airtel said in a statement "Bharti Airtel Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has renewed its effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group". Talks eventually ended without agreement, some sources stating that this was due to opposition from the South African government.[10] [edit]Personal

life

Mittal resides in Delhi. He is married and has three children.[citation needed] [edit]Awards

and Recognition

    

Transforming India Leader, NDTV Business Leader Awards 2008. GSMA Chairman's Award 2008. Padma Bhushan in 2007, from the President of India. Asia Businessman of the Year, Fortune Magazine 2006. Telecom Person of the Year, Voice & Data, 2006.

    

CEO of the year 2005, at the Frost and Sullivan Asia Pacific ICT awards 2006. Best Asian Telecom CEO, Telecom Asia Awards 2005. Best CEO, India, Institutional Investor, 2005. Business Leader Of The Year, Economic Times, 2005. INSEAD Business Leader Award 2011[11

Bharti-Zain deal news updates from Economictimes and many sources. The board of Kuwaits Zain Telecom has accepted a $10.7-billion (Rs 49,700 crore) offer from Bharti Airtel for the bulk of its African assets, breathing new life into the Indian companys cherished ambition of transforming itself into an emerging-market multinational. Sources said that Bharti would acquire 100% of Zains African operations. Sudan and Morocco would be out of the deal. The deal would be an all-cash deal where Bharti would pay $700 mn to Zain by year end. Telecom Minister A Raja said that the Bharti-Zain deal was good for the Indian industry. People familiar with the matter and Kuwaits state news agency KUNA said Zains board had unanimously approved Bhartis offer for all of Zains African assets except those in Sudan and Morocco. Bharti Airtels bid to buy Zain Africa assets in the Black Continent proved successful The bid involves up to $10.7 billion of investments, KUNA said quoting statements by Zain officials issued after the meeting. Representatives from both companies were not available for comment. Bharti has maintained complete silence since the news broke while all Zain said in a statement on Sunday was its board would discuss an offer, but said nothing about the identity of the suitor. A banker familiar with the situation said the acceptance of the offer clears the way for Bharti to carry out a due diligence of the business before a final deal. If the deal fructifies, the acquisition will give Bharti a firm foothold in a relatively untapped market and pit it in direct competition with MTN, with which it has tried and failed to merge twice. The operations spread across 15 African countries that Bharti is seeking to buy are grouped under an entity called Zain International. Africa has nearly 450 million mobile phone users and a teledensity under 50%, still offering large room for growth for a company that is battling a fierce tariff war in Indias overcrowded mobile phone market. If it buys Zains African operations, Bharti will be catapulted past China Unicom, Swedens TeliaSonera, and Germanys T-Mobile to become the worlds seventh-largest mobile phone company by subscribers. The banker said Indias largest phone firm is under-leveraged and has enough borrowing capacity and financing flexibility.At the end of December, Bhartis net debt was just 0.1 times its equity and it had cash reserves of about Rs 7,600 crore. Another banker with knowledge of the deal said Bharti is likely to maintain flexibility on payment depending on how the talks progressit could be financed entirely by cash or be a part-cash and partshare deal. Bharti may even consider raising $500 million-$1 billion from the equity market and around $7.5 billion in debt.

Last year, when Bharti was in talks with MTN, it was looking to raise around $5 billion in debt. For the overseas component of the loan of $3-3.5 billion, it would have had to pay around 315 basis points above the benchmark London inter-bank offered rate plus fees of 50 bps. The pricing is likely to come down by over 50 bps now. StanChart is currently Bhartis sole banker while Zain is being represented by UBS in London. A third banker said the deal could be in two stepsthe first involving the buyout of the African operations as well as a small stake in Zain itself. Subsequently, Bharti would become a majority holder of Zain and the total value of the deal would be around $10 billion. Many analysts see the Bharti stock coming under pressure in the immediate future due to a strain on cash flow as well as Zains low operating margins. When Bharti had bid for MTN, which was a much larger firm with better operating margins, we had seen a similar trend, said DD Sharma, senior VP, research, Anand Rathi Securities. Romal Shetty, who heads the telecom practice at KPMG, said the valuation may appear slightly stretched right now, but Airtel needs a foothold in Africa. With Zain, MTN and Vodacom the only large players with African operations, Airtels choice is limited. There will be some strain on the balance sheet, but Airtel will become a global player with this acquisition. India is attractive in the long term, but not in the short term and Airtel needs to diversify at a time when not too many assets are up for sale, he said. Mr Shetty was also of the view that being a pioneer of the low-cost, outsourced model of operations, Bharti can replicate it in Africa, where market conditions are similar. Emeka Obiodu, a senior analyst in Ovums mobile strategy practice, wrote in a report earlier this month that the competitive landscape in Africa will only get tougher with the disappearance of the pent-up demand for rudimentary telecom services as operators have plucked most of the low-hanging fruit in their markets. Getting it right for the future relies heavily on a bedrock of cost leadership. As operators in India have shown, achieving a minimalist cost structure is the best foundation an operator in an emerging market can have.

MERGER
Sunil Mittal may not be able to sweet-talk this deal through so easily. From an outright acquisition, Bharti Airtels MTN gamble is now taking the shades of a merger with cash and stock as major components of the deal. This deal would be the first of its kind for an Indian company which is looking to merge itself with an equal if not a larger foreign entity (steel magnate LN Mittal was adept at this game and his last deal with Arcelor was a similar one). Bharti is believed to be contemplating a South African listing so that it can issue shares or depository receipts of Bharti Airtel (since foreign nationals cannot own shares of Indian listed companies directly) to MTN shareholders in the event of a merger. Bharti Airtel hinted at such a possibility yesterday. The Merger Matrix In effect, this would mean a cash plus stock deal to bring together Bharti and MTN. According to a report, around $20 billion of the total acquisition value (which is estimated at $45 billion) will be in cash, which Bharti will raise through a combination of debt and internal accruals. The remaining amount of about $25 billion will be paid in Bharti stock. This would mean Bharti will have to float a GDR or ADR or most likely get listed in South Africa for the deal to go through. The $25 billion worth of fresh equity can be used for share swap with large MTN shareholders such as the Alpine Trust and South African pension fund PIC. This will result in MTN shareholders holding on to the fresh equity in Bharti Airtel. MTN shareholders may end up holding 38% in the combined entity. The combined entity will be called MTN Airtel. As indicated by VC Circle earlier, Sunil Bharti Mittal will be the non-executive chairman while Phuthuma Nhleko will be the CEO of the new entity. Significantly, such a share swap will enable Bharti to comply with South African regulations, which stipulate that a minimum 25 per cent of a local companys equity and 40-50 per cent management control should be with local Black investors. (The Mikati family and Newshelf combined form the Alpine Trust The Mikati family of Lebanon owns 10% and Newshelf owns 13% in MTN through the Alpine Trust.) In this case, the final shareholding structure of the Bharti-MTN combine will be as follows Sunil Mittal with 15 per cent stake, SingTel about 19 per cent by virtue of its holding in Bharti Airtel, South African shareholders with about 36 per cent, while the rest will be with the public. Such equity holding structures are very common internationally where the actual promoters hold minority stakes themselves. The corporate structure is expected to be discussed during the scheduled meeting of Sunil Mittal and the Bharti MD Akhil Gupta with Lebanons Mikati family, MTN CEO in a couple of days. This is likely to be followed up with the signing of a non-disclosure agreement, the first step towards giving Bharti access to MTNs books so that it can begin due diligence. After the completion of due diligence from both sides Bharti make a final offer to MTN shareholders which could be upwards of 175 rand a share. At 175 rand a share, MTN would be valued at around $45 billion. New Funding Options A new funding option being explored is tapping on to the financial might of sovereign wealth funds. According to a WSJ report: Bharti Airtel has approached West Asian sovereign wealth funds to finance its possible bid for a majority stake in the South African company. If the merger option is being pursued seriously then this could be just another back-up funding source being planned by the Mittals for the MTN deal. What is surprising is why would Bharti go after West Asian firms, when it already has Singapores sovereign wealth fund Temasek among its investors. Temasek which had last year announced a deal to acquire a minority stake in Bharti Airtel also has stakes in its tower arm. New Suitors In the meanwhile, a possible counter bid candidate has cropped up. UAEs Etisalat is also eyeing MTN as part of its expansion plans. Its chairman Mohammed Omran has already said that: We are always

looking for expansion in Africa. We are evaluating MTN, among other companies. He wants Etisalat to earn at least a quarter of its revenue from Africa within four years. It already serves 51-million users in 16 countries, and has spent $5 billion over four years to launch in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and to buy into a Pakistani operator. In December, it said it would buy 16% of an Indonesian operator. Side Effects As a postscript, the deal talk has not just added fuel to the MTN stock price but has also affected the value of the South African currency. Against the dollar, the rand gained as much as 0.6 percent to 7.5674 yesterday

Chairman & Managing Director of Bharti Group since October 2001 Board Age: 49 years Residence: Delhi Marital Status: Married, 3 children Sunil B. Mittal is a well-known Indian Telecom King. He is chairman and managing director of Bharti group. Sunil B.Mittal company runs India's largest GSM-based mobile phone service. Son of a politician, he built his Bharti group, along with two siblings, into India's largest mobile phone operator in just ten years. Sunil has always been a pioneer. A first generation entrepreneur, he started his first business in 1976 with a capital investment of Rs 20,000. He initially founded a number of trading concerns, and established the first company to manufacture push button telephones in India. Vodafone and SingTel both own stakes in recently renamed flagship Bharti Airtel. Group also has partnerships with Axa for insurance. Sunil was one of the first entrepreneurs to identify the mobile telecom business as a major growth area and launched services in the city of Delhi and the National Capital Region in the year 1995. Under his inspiring leadership the company grew organically and inorganically, covering the entire country by providing integrated telecom services. Director : since: July 1995

In his personal capacity, Sunil has received several awards such as:
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Telecom Person of the Year, Voice & Data, 2006 Best Asian Telecom CEO, Telecom Asia Awards 2005 Best CEO, India, Institutional Investor, 2005 Business Leader Of The Year, Economic Times, 2005 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2004, Ernst & Young