Finnish state fund Solidium has announced the sale of 89 million shares in Swedish telecoms operator TeliaSonera to institutional investors at SKr45.20 (€5.07) per share, or €451m (US$594.6m) in total.
As a result of this transaction, it reduced…
Finnish state fund Solidium has announced the sale of 89 million shares in Swedish telecoms operator TeliaSonera to institutional investors at SKr45.20 (€5.07) per share, or €451m (US$594.6m) in total.
As a result of this transaction, it reduced its stake in the telco from 13.7% to 11.7%.
Meanwhile, Solidium has placed €600m (US$791m) of senior unsecured bonds exchangeable into TeliaSonera shares, which could see it further cut its stake in TeliaSonera to 9.5%.
The bonds have a maturity of 3.5 years and an annual coupon rate of 0.5%. They can be exchanged into TeliaSonera shares at an initial price of SKr57.63 (€6.46), representing a 27.5% premium to the equity offering price.
Overall, Solidium is set to receive €1.05bn (US$1.38bn) from the stake sale and the bond offering.
The company’s managing director, Kari Jarvinen, said that the proceeds will be used to finance upcoming equity investments, to further diversify the fund’s investment portfolio and to improve its financial flexibility.
Goldman Sachs International acted as lead manager and bookrunner for both the equity and exchangeable bond offerings, while SEB Enskilda was co-bookrunner for the equity offering.
