Telenor still looking to be acquired after failed deal with Malaysian company

Telenor still looking to be acquired after failed deal with Malaysian company

OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian telecoms firm Telenor ASA said it is still interested in potential mergers and acquisitions following the failed deal between its Asian business and Malaysia's Axiata Group.

“We will be looking at value-creating opportunities," Chief Executive Sigve Brekke told a conference call on Wednesday. He declined to elaborate on what those opportunities could be.

Telenor and Axiata in September called off their proposed deal to create a telecoms joint venture with nearly 300 million customers across South Asia and Southeast Asia, blaming “complexities" in the project.

• Deal between Telenor's Asian business and Malaysia's Axiata Group failed earlier.
• Telenor Pakistan would also have been merged into Malaysia's Axiata Group under a new joint venture, but the deal failed to materialize.

The Norwegian firm recently completed a takeover of Finnish telecoms operator DNA and on Tuesday announced the planned merger of its Canal Digital TV distribution business with Sweden's Nordic Entertainment Group AB.

“We are value driven at anything we do on mergers and acquisitions … We were value driven in DNA, value driven in Axiata and we will be value driven in anything else we do," Brekke said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Telenor reported third-quarter profits in line with analysts' forecasts and reiterated its full-year outlook. The company said it will present an updated strategy in late January 2020.

Telenor's shares were down 0.9% after the results at 0849 GMT, underperforming a 0.3% drop in the Oslo benchmark index.