NEWSMAKER-Indian telecom tycoon Mittal makes overseas call

By Rina Chandran

MUMBAI, May 14 (Reuters) - When Indian billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal opened the first of his group's retail stores in April, he chose his hometown of Ludhiana in Punjab state, where as a young man he had started a business making bicycle parts.

The announcement this month that his flagship telecom company Bharti Airtel Ltd (BRTI.BO) is in talks with South Africa's MTN Group (MTNJ.J) in what could be India's biggest foreign takeover shows he is also willing to go great distances to raise the profile of the companies he has built.

A successful deal -- talks are still "exploratory" -- could dwarf Tata Steel's (TISC.BO) $13 billion buy of Corus Plc last year, and catapult Mittal into India's top league where Ratan Tata, the Ambani brothers and the Aditya Birla Group have all made ambitious overseas acquisitions in recent years, putting India on the global businesses map.

Some analysts have questioned if Mittal, who is not related to steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, has the ability to pull off a deal that could cost upwards of $20 billion for control of MTN in the present market environment.

(For more on Bharti/MTN, click [ID:nBOM48622])

But others say the yoga and golf enthusiast, who is on the advisory boards at Harvard Business School and the University of Pennsylvania, is ready.

"He would not have initiated talks if he didn't have his bases covered," said S. Subramanian, head of investment banking at Enam Securities, which is not involved in the deal. "He has the chutzpah to pull it off if he wants to."

Mittal, who co-chaired last year's World Economic Forum in Davos, has so far preferred entering joint ventures with overseas partners: Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) for a wholesale venture, France's Axa (AXAF.PA) for insurance and asset management, and a Rothschild arm for fresh produce.

He has also surrendered stakes to overseas firms: Southeast Asia's largest telecoms firm, SingTel (STEL.SI), owns more than 30 percent of Bharti Airtel, and Del Monte Pacific (DMPL.SI) has 40 percent in FieldFresh Foods, the Bharti-Rothschild venture.

Mittal, who also made push-button telephones and imported generators from Japan in his early days, grabbed a mobile services licence when the sector opened up to private firms in the early 1990s, and quickly built India's top mobile operator.

Valued at about $38 billion, Bharti provides services on the popular GSM platform in all of India's 23 telecom circles, or service areas, and has 62 million subscribers.

The son of a politician, Mittal has taken competition head on: Bharti Airtel has held on to its top spot despite formidable rivals in Reliance Communications Ltd (RLCM.BO) and Vodafone (VOD.L) Essar.

Bharti also competes against Reliance Industries (RELI.BO), the Aditya Birla Group, Tata and others in the $350 billion retail industry, and a host of foreign and local firms in the financial services sector.

The second of three sons, Mittal stepped down last October as chief executive of his group companies after his 50th birthday, retaining the title of chairman and managing director of Bharti Enterprises, the holding company. His two brothers are also involved in the business.

Don't bet against Bharti, who is listed by Forbes among India's billionaires, formally bidding for MTN on the 23rd.

The number 23 has special significance for Mittal, and features on the licence plates of his cars, in his phone number and is often a preferred date for meetings and big announcements. (Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan & Ian Geoghegan)