S. Africa's MTN: no deal reached with Reliance

Reliance said in May it had entered into exclusive merger talks with MTN Group.

"Owing to certain legal and regulatory issues, the parties are unable to conclude a transaction," MTN Group said in a statement posted Friday on the Web site of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. "Accordingly, it has been mutually decided to allow the exclusivity agreement to lapse."

An MTN spokeswoman declined to comment beyond what was written in the statement.

Reliance is India's second-largest telecommunications company by subscribers. It had opened talks with MTN soon after another Indian company, Bharti Airtel, said it was ending negotiations with MTN because the South African company's proposals would have seen the Indian company becoming a subsidiary.