Orascom wants Temasek’s phone assets
SINGAPORE, OCT 17: Orascom Telecom Holding SAE, the largest mobile-phone company in West Asia and North Africa, said it is ‘‘interested” in buying telecommunications assets owned by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte to expand in Asia.‘‘We believe in consolidation, we believe in having a footprint that’s coherent, like an Asian dominant footprint,” Orascom Chief Executive Officer Naguib Sawiris said in Singapore today. The Cairo-based company is interested in buying telecom assets in countries including Indonesia and Thailand, he said.
Any regional purchase would help Orascom meet its goal of becoming one of the world’s 10 largest telecommunications companies. Sawiris also said he wants to acquire 51% or more of Hutchison Telecommunications International and merge the two coms’ operations.
Sawiris, 52, ruled out the possibility of buying a stake in Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, Southeast Asia’s biggest phone operator, and would choose StarHub Ltd as ‘‘we prefer single assets that don’t belong to a group.” He said the company hasn’t held talks with Temasek.
Temasek, a Singapore government investment company, owns shares in Singapore Telecom as well as StarHub, Singapore’s second-biggest phone company. Temasek spokeswoman Lim Siow Joo declined to confirm whether any assets were for sale, saying the company is ‘‘unable to comment on market speculation.”
Telecommunications and media assets made up 26% of Temasek’s portfolio as of March 31, according to its latest annual report. The company also owns shares in PT Indosat, Indonesia’s second-biggest telephone company, Thai telecommunication holding company Shin Corp, Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte, and Global Crossing Ltd, a fiber-optic communications network operator.
Orascom is the biggest foreign shareholder in Hutchison Telecom with a 19.3% stake. Hutchison is a unit of Hutchison Whampoa, owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing. ‘‘Our ambition is to get to over 51% as a minimum,” Sawiris said in an interview. ‘‘We would be happy to increase our stake to a percentage where we can consolidate the assets.”
Orascom has the option of buying another 3.7% of Hutchison in the next 12 months, after paying $1.3 billion for the 19.3% stake, the company said in December.
Source- http://www.financialexpress.com
