Millicom has sold its Cambodian operations to its local partner the Royal Group for $346 million in cash.
The Luxembourg-based Millicom holds a controlling stake in a GSM network, the international gateway service Royal Telecam International and Cambodia Broadcasting Services. The deal values the assets at $605 million.
The deal comes days after Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo revealed it was considering in acquiring Millicom's Cambodian mobile operations, which use the Mobitel brand. Mobitel has around 2.12 million subscribers, and has been operational since 1996.
The Royal Group is a Cambodian investment and development company. As well as its stakes in Mobitel and Royal Telecam, Royal holds shares in broadband service TeleSurf and IT consulting firm NETi Solutions.
The Millicom-Royal deal is expected to be concluded before the end of 2009, but is subject to regulatory approvals.
Millicom shares on the Nasdaq declined 3.1% to $71.50 yesterday.