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Swedish incumbent also launches strategic review of credit management business.
TeliaSonera on Monday completed the sale of its Nepal arm Ncell to Malaysia’s Axiata.
The deal, announced in December, sees Axiata take an 80.4% stake in Ncell, until today held by Reynolds Holding, which was 60.4% owned by TeliaSonera. The deal values TeliaSonera’s Ncell stake at US$1.03 billion (€902.49 million).
"I am very pleased to announce the completion of our divestment of Ncell to Axiata, according to our announcement in December and in line with our ambition to reduce our presence in Eurasia over time," said TeliaSonera CEO Johan Dennelind, in a statement.
In addition to Nepal, TeliaSonera’s Eurasian business includes operations in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. It announced its intention to withdraw from the region in September 2015.
Meanwhile, in a separate announcement, TeliaSonera announced it has launched a strategic review of Sergel Group, its credit management services (CMS) division. The unit handles credit checking, invoicing, debt collection and bad debt purchasing in the Nordics and Baltics.
In 2015, Sergel Group generated revenue of SEK800 million (€86.45 million).
"Sergel has historically been the in-house collection unit of TeliaSonera but has gradually expanded its strategic focus to also provide CMS and debt purchase services to external customers. There are however no decisions made at this stage with respect to a structural solution," TeliaSonera said.
