Three months after Kishore Biyani began restructuring Future Group’s 22 companies into two key business groups—retail and financial services—the chairman of India’s largest shopping chain by market value wants to offload stakes in units not part of those core categories to raise money needed to fund expansion plans. Biyani wants to cap his stake in the non-retail and non-financial services business at 26% and keep 40-45% in the operating companies. “We have two kinds of businesses. One is where we are running and operating (companies), and others we look at as mentor capitalists or financial investors,” Biyani said in an interview on Tuesday. […]

India's top telecom company Bharti Airtel was set to become the 7th largest global player in this business, with an approval from Kuwait's Zain to buy its African assets, other than those in Morocco and Sudan, for $10.7 billion. 'The company confirms that the board of directors of Zain met in Kuwait on Wednesday, March 24 to review the latest developments and negotiations related to this matter,' the Kuwaiti company said in a statement Thursday. 'The board is pleased to report that due diligence process has been completed and that the parties are finalising definitive agreements which are expected to be signed in the coming days.' […]