THE Khazanah Nasional Bhd board of directors went over the proposed mega-merger between Axiata  Group Bhd and Telenor Axiata Group Bhd, said Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali.

“It was discussed by the board,” said Azmin, who is a member of the board. 

Axiata is among the stable of companies in which the sovereign wealth fund has a majority stake.

Khazanah holds a 37.16 % stake in Axiata.

Meanwhile, Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo said the government is waiting for the two companies to firm up the details of the merger before presenting a report to Putrajaya.

“In this situation there is a lot of matters that we have to look into and there are details to finetune and discuss before the proposal is finalised.”

“We will look at the final proposal and issue a statement based on that.”

On concerns whether the merger would result in the loss of jobs, Gobind said the government would look into such concerns and ensure they are addressed.

Telenor Asia will hold a 56.5% stake and Axiata the remainder in the merged company. The division of shares is based on the valuation of assets.

The merger of the parent companies of Celcom and Digi will give birth to the largest telco in Malaysia.

The mammoth merger will also consolidate Axiata and Telenor Asia’s regional businesses, except for Bangladesh, in which both have a presence.

Following the consolidation, the two companies would have access to a customer base of 300 million in nine countries. Axiata currently has a footprint in six of the nine markets while Telenor has three. – June 5, 2019.