Sri Lankan cellco Dialog Axiata has denied it is looking to acquire a stake in local telco Suntel, according to the Lanka Business Online citing a spokesman for Dialog Axiata.
This report comes after Axiata reportedly conducted due diligence on Suntel,…
Sri Lankan cellco Dialog Axiata has denied it is looking to acquire a stake in local telco Suntel, according to the Lanka Business Online citing a spokesman for Dialog Axiata.
This report comes after Axiata reportedly conducted due diligence on Suntel, which according to the newspaper has been in the market for some time now.
Last October, it was reported that Tata Comm (TCL) was in final talks to acquire 100% of Suntel. The Indian government, which owns a 26% stake in the company, had reportedly approved the proposed deal.
Already in 2008, TCL had tried to buy Suntel for US$90m but was outbid by Indian state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, which submitted a US$180m offer. But the company later had to pull out due to legal issues.
Suntel is a joint venture between Sweden’s Overseas Telecom, India’s Metrocorp, Townsend Limited of Hong Kong, the National Development Bank, and the International Finance Corporation, according to its website.
Lanka Bell, another Sri Lankan telco, has also been for sale for several months now.
But in January, it was reported that the company might not be sold because of a turnaround in performance.
This followed reports in December that two mobile operators had submitted offers to buy the struggling company after its owner, the Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka, put it up for sale.
But it has now been suggested that a sale may be irrelevant after Lanka Bell managed to increase its revenues with the help of a cost-control programme, new directives on minimum floor prices on call charges and other regulatory changes.
