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. however, the talks fell apart as mtn group tried to reverse the negotiations by making bharti almost a subsidiary of the new company. 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. talks eventually ended without agreement, some sources stating that this was due to opposition from the south african government.