Norway’s Telenor and Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group) have agreed to merge their telecom units in Thailand in a deal valued at 282.8 billion baht ($8.6 billion) to create a new market leader in the Southeast Asian country.
The deal, which Telenor flagged on Friday, would merge the operations of Telenor’s Total Access Communication and CP Group’s True Corporation.
The announcement by the companies sent shares of DTAC and True Corp up 10% and 11.5%, respectively, on Monday.
The offer of 47.76 baht per DTAC share represents a premium of 15.8% to its Friday close and the offer of 5.09 baht per True Corp share represents a premium of 17.8% to its close on the same day.
“We need to enable faster and more value-creation from the network, delivering new technologies and innovations to customers,” CP Group CEO Suphachai Chearavanont said.
“This means the transformation of Thai businesses into tech-based companies is a vital step to maintain competitive edge amidst global competitors.”
Telenor and CP Group will aim for an ownership share of around one-third each in the merged entity, the companies said.
The merged entity, subject to regulatory approvals, would become a market leader with about 52% of subscribers in the country, surpassing Advanced Info Service Pcl (AIS).
The combined company will be listed on the Thai stock exchange.
Source: Reuters.com