By Devidutta Tripathy and Sumeet Chatterjee
NEW DELHI/BANGALORE (Reuters) - As Bharti Airtel holds exclusive talks with Kuwaiti telecom Zain to buy its African operations for $9 billion, investors have punished shares of India's top mobile phone operator.
The potential for subscriber growth is high in Africa, but some analysts say Bharti is paying a rich price and the debt burden to fund the deal would stretch its balance sheet.
This might be the last chance of Bharti founder Sunil Mittal, who started his career selling bicycle parts, to realise his dream of making Bharti a global player, after two failed acquisition attempts and as growth slows in India.
Bharti was the second-worst performing stock in the benchmark index in 2009, down 8 percent in a market up 81 percent.
Has the sharp sell-off in Bharti, 32-percent controlled by Singapore Telecommunications, made valuations attractive enough or is the tide unlikely to turn soon?
For a Graphic on Zain's African assets, click here
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