Bharti Airtel on Thursday said Zain Telecom will pay $129 million (Rs 860 crore) to it towards the settlement of certain tax matters and associated legal costs related to the sale of Zain's African operations to Airtel in 2010.
"Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) and Zain Telecom have reached an agreement, pursuant to which Zain is to pay to Airtel approximately $129 (Rs 860 crore) million for the settlement of all of Airtel's claims on account of the Nigeria litigation, certain tax matters and associated legal costs," Airtel said in a statement issued here.
Airtel had acquired Zain Telecom's African business for $9.7 billion (approx Rs 65,000 crore) in 2010.
"Under the terms of the 2010 Share Sale/Purchase Agreement, Zain had provided Airtel certain indemnities covering the Nigeria Litigation and for certain tax claims," the statement said.
"A separate settlement has been reached between Airtel and Econet Wireless settling all claims, disputes whatsoever, between the two including in Nigeria and the Netherlands."
"With these settlements, Airtel has closed several ongoing major litigations in Nigeria, the UK and Netherlands," it added.
After acquiring Zain’s telecom business, Airtel ran into dispute with Econet Wireless – a minority stakeholder in Zain Telecom. Bharti Airtel lost a court case in Nigeria and potentially faced $3 billion (approx Rs 20,000 crore) in payout over a 5 per cent stake claimed by Econet Wireless in its Nigerian unit.
