New Delhi, Aug 3 - Bharti Airtel and South Africa's MTN Monday said they were extending their talks for a proposed $23-billion financial alliance till Aug 31, having failed to reach a pact within the earlier deadline that had expired Friday.

'No decision or agreement to acquire any shares or implement the potential transaction outlined above has yet been made by the boards of either MTN or Bharti,' the South African telecom company said in a statement.

'Shareholders are advised that the discussions between the parties regarding a potential transaction are continuing and both parties have agreed to extend the exclusivity period until up to 31 August 2009,' said the statement.

'The discussions may or may not lead to any transaction and the structure and terms of the potential transaction may be adjusted to reflect further discussions between the parties.'

The potential transaction between the two companies is proposed to create a leading telecom service provider group, aligning Bharti's market-leading Indian business with MTN's growing African and Middle Eastern operations.

Telecom sector trackers didn't see anything amiss in the extension of talks, maintaining that the process was taking time.

'It's just that the process is taking a longer time but I have no reason to believe there are any hiccups,' said Mahesh Uppal, director of telecom consulting firm Com First.

'This is a very complex transaction. Both companies have several issues and come from markets its partner is not familiar with,' Uppal told IANS.

Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal had recently told a news channel that reports of the two companies not being able to finalise the management structure was not true.

Moreover, both the telecom firms would retain the current management structure and operate as separate companies until they were able to implement a full merger within the next couple of years, he had said.