You may recall that back in 2024, Bloomberg reported that there were talks of a buyout of local telco U Mobile by fellow telco Maxis. This comes following the merger of two other telcos to form CelcomDigi, currently the largest telco in Malaysia. The Edge reported back in February of this year that talks have stalled due to pricing disagreements. Earlier today, Bloomberg reported that talks have been revived, citing sources familiar with the matter.
According to the new report, Maxis has asked a select group of banks and law firms to submit proposals, and that it could pick advisers shortly. As for U Mobile, its owners may seek a valuation of RM10 billion or more as part of the deal. The owners of the orange telco previously asked for RM14 billion, so if nothing else, it looks like there’s now more room for negotiation. The report also mentions that owners of the latter are “showing more willingness to negotiate”.
Should the merger go through, the resulting entity will be the new largest telco in the country. That being said, there is no certainty that they will reach an agreement as of yet. A Maxis spokesperson told the outlet that the telco “is always evaluating strategic opportunities and partnerships that are value accretive”, and that the company will disclose any material developments.
Incidentally, the report notes that Maxis has a market value of RM27.3 billion. CelcomDigi, on the other hand, has a market capitalisation of about RM29 billion. The 2024 report also mentioned that the owners of U Mobile were planning to file for an initial public offering (IPO) after previously rejecting the offer. The move to go public is said to have been in consideration since 2021, but that has obviously not come to pass.
