TeliaSonera’s longstanding Finnish government investor Solidium has cut its stake in the Nordic operator from 7.8% to 3.2%.
Solidium’s sale comes days after its previous 90-day lock-up period from a share disposal in November expired.
Carnegie,…
TeliaSonera’s longstanding Finnish government investor Solidium has cut its stake in the Nordic operator from 7.8% to 3.2%.
Solidium’s sale comes days after its previous 90-day lock-up period from a share disposal in November expired.
Carnegie, Citi, Morgan Stanley and Nordea acted as joint bookrunners on the equity offering, selling 200 million TeliaSonera shares on the market at SKr51 apiece to raise SKr10.2bn (US$1.22bn).
Solidium initially planned to divest 175 million shares, but the firm said it decided to upsize its offering due to strong investor demand.
Last November, Solidium cuts its stake in TeliaSonera from 10.1% to 7.8% raising SKr5.04bn (US$686m). The three-month lock-up period after that sale ended on 3 February. After its latest disposal, Solidium is barred from disposing more of its TeliaSonera shares until 11 May.
As of 31 December 2014, Solidium was the second-largest shareholder in TeliaSonera after the Swedish government, which holds 37.3% of the telco. Following its latest sale, Solidium has dropped to third behind funds held by Capital Group, a Los Angeles-headquartered investor which is also the largest shareholder in Danish incumbent TDC with more than 15%.
TeliaSonera was created in 2002 when Swedish operator Telia and Finnish operator Sonera merged. Solidium’s investment is a legacy from that transaction.
Solidium will use the proceeds from its latest sell-off to prepare for the repayment of a maturing eurobond, finance equity investments, and improve its financial flexibility.