Family feud threatens India deal

By Karishma Vaswani BBC News, Mumbai

Anil Ambani has been referred to as one of the "squabbling siblings"

A row in India's richest family could derail a $70bn (�36bn;45bn euros) merger between India's Reliance Communications and South Africa's MTN.

Chairman of Reliance Communications Anil Ambani has hit out at his elder brother Mukesh Ambani for interfering in merger talks between RC and MTN.

The two companies have been in merger talks since May. A deal would create one of the 10 largest telecoms firms.

At issue, however, is the corporate structure this deal would take.

There have been suggestions that Anil Ambani would sell a stake in Reliance Communications to South Africa's MTN.

But his elder brother Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man, says he has the first right to buy a stake in his younger brother's firm.

According to a statement released by Reliance Communications, the group says that Mukesh Ambani's claim is "legally and factually untenable".

The two brothers inherited their multi-billion dollar conglomerates from their father, Dhirubhai Ambani, who died in 2002.

The late Mr Ambani left no will, so the business was divided by their mother, Mrs Kokilaben Ambani, after it became obvious the two brothers would not be able to run the sprawling company together.

Since then the two brothers have repeatedly tried to outdo each other in the Indian corporate world.

Indian media has often compared their tale to a Bollywood film - and the Ambani brothers are many times affectionately referred to in India as the squabbling siblings.

They've often competed for the same financial deals, but have never publicly interfered in each other's businesses until now.

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