Business Activities News
- China Mobile's 1st foreign deal
Date: 24-Jan-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
CHINA Mobile Communications Corp., the world's biggest wireless carrier, has agreed to buy money-losing Pakistan operator Paktel Ltd. for US$284 million for its first acquisition outside its home market.
Beijing-based China Mobile is buying an 89 percent stake in Paktel from Millicom International Cellular S.A., a Luxembourg-based company that operates in emerging markets, the companies said Sunday.
Millicom, which earlier this year held failed talks to be acquired by China Mobile, has operations in 16 markets in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
China Mobile plans to rebrand and relaunch Paktel with additional investment in equipment and marketing, one person close to the situation said Monday, in a bid to turn the company around and grab a larger slice of the growing market.
Paktel is the fifth-largest mobile operator in Pakistan with 1.5 million subscribers as of Sept. 30, a 62 percent rise from the year before. About one-quarter of Pakistan's 160 million people have mobile phone services.
Millicom decided to exit the Pakistani market in November after it had gained additional space in the 1800 Mhz spectrum, but the grant was not permanent. Regulators also had refused a request to delay payment of a US$29 million license installment.
Since then, about 10 entities expressed interest in Paktel, another source familiar with the deal told reporters.
'The sale of Paktel allows Millicom to focus on the 16 markets where we have already established strong market positions and, with penetration rates rising rapidly, the prospects in these businesses are good,'Millicom chief executive Marc Beuls said in a statement.
Millicom expects the sale to be completed in late February, contingent on obtaining regulatory approvals.
Sponsor Results:
