Axiata and Telenor have announced that both companies have agreed to terminate their plan to merge. In the joint announcement, the companies have cited complexities within their merger plan as the reason behind the mutual termination.
Despite that, both companies still believe in the strategic advantage of the plan. Not only that, they have also stated that such the merger could still be possible in the future.
Here is the full announcement:
Axiata Group Berhad and Telenor Group have mutually agreed to end discussions regarding a non-cash combination of their telecom and infrastructure assets in Asia (the “Proposed Transaction”).
Over the last four months, both parties have been working on due diligence and finalising transaction agreements to be completed within the third quarter of 2019. Due to some complexities involved in the Proposed Transaction, the parties have mutually agreed to end the discussions.
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Both parties still acknowledge the strong strategic rationale of the Proposed Transaction. The parties do not rule out that a future transaction could be possible.
The parties do not intend to provide further comments.
Under the original plan, Celcom and Digi would be merged together to become the biggest telco in the country. The merged entity will also be based in Malaysia even though Telenor would hold 56.6% of the entity’s share with the other 43.5% would go to Axiata.
(Source: Axiata via Bursa Malaysia.)
