Anil Ambani, the Indian industrialist, was on a family holiday in a game park in South Africa earlier this month when the news came. Takeover talks had collapsed between rival billionaire entrepreneur Sunil Mittal, chairman of India's biggest mobile carrier Bharti Airtel, and MTN, the South African wireless operator. Mr Ambani promptly switched from passively viewing the big game to hunting - going after one of the biggest emerging markets telecoms groups.

Last week, his mobile phone company, Reliance Communications, engaged MTN in exclusive talks for an audacious reverse takeover that would put him at the helm of a group with 115m subscribers across Africa, the Middle East and India. In some estimates the deal could be worth $20bn (£10bn, €13bn) - the largest overseas takeover tried by an Indian company.