Sweden aims to list Telia this spring
By Jonathan Lynn
STOCKHOLM, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Sweden will push ahead with plans to list state-owned telecom operator Telia
1/8TELI.CN 3/8 on the stock exchange this spring, the government said on Thursday.
Telia, the 10th largest telecom operator in Europe, had planned a joint listing with Norwegian counterpart Telenor
this April but their $47 billion merger plans collapsed late last year amid nationalistic bickering.
"In order to keep all options open to put Telia on the stock market this spring, the government will start
preparations for this immediately," Industry Minister Bjorn Rosengren said in a statement.
Swedish media had speculated that it would not be possible to organise a flotation and listing before the autumn,
after a parliamentary industry committee failed earlier this month to agree on a sale.
Only last week Prime Minister Goran Persson argued there was no hurry to go ahead with a flotation.
But a listing is now seen as a high priority.
"We will go ahead at full speed to get it on to the stock exchange," said one senior government official.
PARLIAMENTARY APPROVAL NEEDED
Rosengren noted that parliamentary approval would still be required before shares in Telia could be sold.
The seven parties in parliament, where Persson's Social Democratic government is in a minority, have not yet
reached agreement on whether Telia should be privatised, on the timetable of a sale or how much should be sold
off.
Telia, valued anywhere between 200 and 600 billion crowns ($23-69 billion), welcomed the announcement that
preparations for a flotation were now seriously in train.
"A listing will give Telia greater possibilities to realise the ambitious plans for the future we are currently working
out," Chief Executive Jan-Ake Kark said in a statement.
Work on the flotation -- expected to be Sweden's largest -- will be handled by Telia itself, the industry ministry and
various banks, who have not yet been named. The timetable for putting legislation through parliament has not yet
been agreed.
Telia is best known in Sweden for its fixed-line business, but industry analysts say it also has cutting-edge
technology in mobile communications and the Internet, two converging areas where Sweden is a world leader.
Telia said on Thursday it was forming a joint company with Oracle Corp <ORCL.O>, the world's second largest
independent software group, to develop mobile Internet services.
The new company will draw on Telia's development expertise and Oracle's Portal-to-Go browser which allows
consumers to shop electronically from any existing mobile phone. |
