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Malaysia's Axiata in Talks to Buy Smaller Indonesia Telecom Company

Malaysia's Axiata in Talks to Buy Smaller Indonesia Telecom Company
Techbiz.id | Axiata unit PT XL Axiata Tbk is the second-biggest player by subscriber numbers in Indonesia

Malaysian telecommunications company Axiata Group Bhd is in talks to buy a smaller rival in Indonesia in a share-swap deal to cut costs and competition in its biggest market, as COVID-19 hammers businesses, its CEO told Reuters.

After PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk, Axiata unit PT XL Axiata Tbk is the second-biggest player by subscriber numbers in Southeast Asia’s most populous country. Axiata is followed by PT Indosat Tbk, PT Smartfren Telecom Tbk and the local telco unit of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd.

“Except for the biggest player, I can tell you right now we are talking to all for some kind of an arrangement,” Axiata Chief Executive Jamaludin Ibrahim told Reuters in an interview on Saturday over Microsoft Teams, declining to specify a target.

“I can’t imagine buying two, and you don’t need to anyway.”

Axiata Building in Malaysia. Image: The Star
Axiata Building in Malaysia. Image: The Star

 

PT Indosat, with a market capitalisation of 10.68 trillion rupiah ($727 million), PT Smartfren, valued at 21 trillion rupiah ($1.4 billion), and the local unlisted business of Hutchison, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Jamaludin said Axiata Group, with a market capitalisation of about $8 billion, had done some due diligence last year, and information from that could be “partially” useful if a deal were to materialise this year.

Jamaludin, who retires later this year, said Axiata was looking for deals in Malaysia and Sri Lanka too. The company also operates in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and the Philippines.

“I hope before I retire, at least one country happens. Either Malaysia, Indonesia or Sri Lanka,” he said. “COVID-19 makes it more a necessity to consolidate, even more than before, and therefore to discuss with all parties becomes quite imperative.”


Source : Reuters 

Tags: Axiata Telecom
Indah Gilang Pusparani

Indah is a researcher at Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Kota Cirebon (Regional Development Planning and Research Agency of Cirebon Municipality). She covers More international relations, tourism, and startups in Southeast Asia region and beyond. Indah graduated from MSc Development Administration and Planning from University College London, United Kingdom in 2015. She finished bachelor degree from International Relations from University of Indonesia in 2014, with two exchange programs in Political Science at National University of Singapore and New Media in Journalism at Ball State University, USA. She was awarded Diplomacy Award at Harvard World Model United Nations and named as Indonesian Gifted Researcher by Australian National University. She is Researcher at Regional Planning Board in Cirebon, West Java. She previously worked as Editor in Bening Communication, the Commonwealth Parliament Association UK, and diplomacy consulting firm Best Delegate LLC in USA. Less
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