MTN Group Plans to Make Announcement on Reliance Talks Today

MTN Group Ltd., Africa's biggest mobile-phone company, said it will issue a statement this morning on its talks with Reliance Communications Ltd, reported The Bloomberg.

MTN said May 26 it entered into exclusive negotiations for 45 days with Reliance about a ``potential business combination'' between the two companies. The period ends today.

``Because the expiry is today, we have to make an announcement,'' Nozipho January-Bardill, a spokeswoman for the company, said in a telephone interview today from Johannesburg. She wouldn't specify a time beyond saying the statement would be issued this morning.

A group headed by Anil Ambani, who controls Reliance Communications, plans to buy 51 percent of MTN by offering cash and a share swap, India's Business Standard reported today, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

The 45-day deadline may also be extended by as much as four weeks, the newspaper said.