SingTel has announced plans to sell its entire 30% stake in Pakistan's Warid Telecom for around $150 million.
The operator has negotiated a sale with a unit of the Abu Dhabi group, which owns the remaining 70% of Warid Telecom, SingTel said in a stock exchange filing.
SingTel paid around $758 million for its 30% stake in Pakistan's third-largest mobile operator in 2007. According to the filing, after all the financial variables are taken into account, the company will be taking an S$230 million ($186.3 million) loss on the disposal.
SingTel said in the filing that it had made the decision to sell “following a strategic review of the investment, its competitive position and opportunity,” and that the price tag was determined “on a willing buyer, willing seller basis.”
The terms of the transaction also give SingTel the rights to a 7.5% share of the proceeds from any future sale or IPO of the Pakistani operator, which could eventually reduce SingTel's loss on the investment.
If the transaction closes – which is contingent of the approval of some of Warid's creditors - Warid will no longer be counted as one of SingTel's regional mobile associate companies.
Days before announcing the divestment, SingTel revealed it had commenced liquidation proceedings for a dormant 51%-owned subsidiary, Ayala Systems Technologies Singapore, as part of “corporate streamlining efforts.”