Along with Nepal, the Nordic telecom operator has announced that it will gradually retreat from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Tajikstan.TeliaSonera CEO Johan Dennelind said in a statement posted on the company's website said that work done to improve corporate governance in these countries has made it possible to sell these businesses to others. "Thanks to two years of hard work to improve the Eurasian operations, not least from a corporate governance and sustainability perspective, we now have better and well-managed companies which we believe others can successfully develop further," Dennelind said in the statement. "We realize that this will be a complex task that will take time. We are conducting this process market by market as each country and operation has its unique situation, but the ambition is to eventually leave the entire region."
According to the statement, TeliaSonera's Board of Directors has thoroughly examined what is best for its shareholders, operations, employees and customers. "We have initiated a process to reduce TeliaSonera's presence in Eurasia region in order to effectively execute on our strategy. It is very positive that TeliaSonera's focused work to improve sustainability has enabled the next step in the reshaping of TeliaSonera," TeliaSonera's Chair of the Board, Marie Ehrling, said in the statement.
Earlier in March, Ncell has started a study to launch initial public offering (IPO). A high-level committee of TeliaSonera had visited Nepal in February to conduct detailed study on issuing shares to general public. The team had visited Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), the stock market regulator, to find out how Ncell can move ahead on the issue. Salomon Bekele, senior advisor, CEO office; Mathias Holcke, director; and Ola Espelund, group legal counsel, merger and acquisitions and finance from TeliaSonera were in the team.
According to Reuters, TeliaSonera decided to gradually abandon its central Asian markets, hit by years of investigations into alleged corruption linked to local partners and problems accessing cash in distant countries.
"In Uzbekistan and Nepal it is sitting on the equivalent of close to 5 billion Swedish crowns ($607 million) which it cannot bring home. In Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, TeliaSonera still does not know the identity of the ultimate owners of its local partner companies," Reuters reports.
"We think we have exhausted our options to resolve the two major issues, about partners and repatriation of cash," Dennelind told Reuters.
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