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Offers from potential buyers did not win over Singaporean telco’s parents.
M1 is no longer up for sale, after the Singaporean telco’s three major shareholders cancelled their strategic review.
Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), Malaysia’s Axiata, and Keppel Telecommunications and Transportation, made the disclosure in a joint statement on Tuesday.
"The majority shareholders have taken into consideration the proposals from interested parties, which despite a favourable level of interest, have not met the minimum criteria and parameters as determined by the majority shareholders," the companies said.
"No arrangement or agreement with any third party has been reached in relation to each majority shareholders’ respective shareholdings in M1."
SPH owns 13.38% of M1, while Axiata and Keppel own 28.54% and 19.23% respectively.
In March, they appointed Morgan Stanley to assist with a strategic review of the operator with a view to potentially offloading it.
A Reuters report in April claimed that China Mobile and a slew of telcos, private equity firms, Chinese business groups and Japanese tech firms had shown interest in acquiring M1.
Singapore’s telecoms market is set to become more competitive with the arrival of Australia-based TPG Telecom, which won the country’s new entrant spectrum auction (NESA) in late 2016.
It will heap more pressure on M1, the smallest of Singapore’s three incumbent operators, which also includes Singtel and StarHub.
