Airtel has entered into agreements with Kuwait’s Zain Telecom, wherein the Indian company will receive about $129 million (₹860 crore).

This is on account of Airtel’s claims on account of a litigation in Nigeria, certain tax matters and legal costs.

The issue dates back to 2010, when Airtel acquired Zain Telecom’s African business for $10.7 billion, which was its biggest overseas acquisition. The company had entered into a deal to acquire Zain Telecom’s operations in 15 nations, excluding Sudan and Morocco.

Following the acquisition, disputes arose between Airtel and Econet Wireless, a minority stakeholder in Zain Telecom.

According to the Nigerian media, Econet Wireless had sought $3.1 billion in damages from Airtel in a dispute over ownership of its subsidiary Airtel Nigeria.

The Nigerian court had ruled that Bharti Airtel’s ownership of its subsidiary Airtel Nigeria is “null and void”, because Econet was not consulted on the deal with Zain.

The conflict

Under the terms of the 2010 share sale and purchase agreement, Zain had provided Airtel certain indemnities covering the Nigeria litigation and for certain tax claims.

Airtel, on Thursday, said it has entered into a separate agreement with Econet Wireless to settle all claims and disputes between the two firms including in Nigeria and the Netherlands. Airtel did not provide the details of the settlement deal, or whether the money received from Zain has been paid to Econet.

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