TeliaSonera announces completion of Nepal's arm Ncell sale

TeliaSonera, the Swedish company having majority stake in Nepal's largest private telecommunication company Ncell, announced on Monday that divestment of its shareholding in Ncell to Malaysian Telecom Company Axiata, has been completed.

In the biggest acquisition deal in Nepali history, Axiata, had agreed to buy majority stake in Ncell, on December 21, 2015. While there has been dispute in Nepal whether the Himalayan country should receive capital gain tax from this acquisition deal, the Swedish company said in a press release that it has obtained approvals of all relevant authorities.

TeliaSonera has completed the sale at an enterprise value of 1.03 billion U.S. dollars for its 60.4 percent ownership of Reynolds Holding, which owns Ncell, a press release of the company stated. "The transaction is subject to customary closing balance sheet adjustments based on net debt and net working capital."

According to TeliaSonera, it will be paid for Ncell's cash position in proportion to its economic interest of 80.4 percent. Furthermore, TeliaSonera has dissolved its economic interests in the 20 percent local ownership in Ncell and received approximately 48 million U.S. dollars from Sunivera Capital Ventures, Singapore.

"I am very pleased to announce the completion of our divestment of Ncell to Axiata, according to our announcement in December (last year) and in line with our ambition to reduce our presence in Eurasia over time. Axiata is a suitable new owner of Ncell and it gives me comfort that our dedicated employees are in good hands," the press releases quoted Johan Dennelind, TeliaSonera's President and CEO, as saying.

Axiata has approximately 275 million customers and 25,000 employees in Asia. Ncell will complement its portfolio of Asian telecommunications assets, which includes operations in Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Singapore, Myanmar and Pakistan, according to the press release.