Telenor ASA is considering selling its controlling stake in its digital bank in Pakistan, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would mark its full exit from the South Asian nation, according to Bloomberg.
The Norwegian company is working with Citigroup Inc. on the potential disposal of its 55 per cent equity stake in easypaisa Bank Ltd, the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private. A transaction may value the holding in the business formerly known as Telenor Microfinance Bank Ltd. at several hundred million dollars, one of the people said.
Telenor plans to invite initial offers from prospective bidders within the next few months, the people said. Considerations are ongoing and no final decisions have been made, they said.Ant Group Co holds the rest of Easypaisa, which has become a household name for cash transfers in Pakistan.
Representatives for Telenor and Citigroup declined to comment. Ant didn’t respond to a request seeking comment.A disposal of the stake in easypaisa would follow the sale of Telenor’s telecommunication unit in Pakistan in a deal that valued the business at about $490 million. Telenor, which has been in the country for two decades, would join other multinational companies including Procter & Gamble Co and Shell Plc that have left the nation in recent years.
It would be “well received by the financial community to see Telenor simplifying its Asian portfolio,” Christoffer Wang Bjornsen, an analyst at DNB Carnegie, wrote in a note to clients Friday.for cash transfers in Pakistan.Representatives for Telenor and Citigroup declined to comment. Ant didn’t respond to a request seeking comment.
A disposal of the stake in easypaisa would follow the sale of Telenor’s telecommunication unit in Pakistan in a deal that valued the business at about $490 million. Telenor, which has been in the country for two decades, would join other multinational companies including Procter & Gamble Co and Shell Plc that have left the nation in recent years.
It would be “well received by the financial community to see Telenor simplifying its Asian portfolio,” Christoffer Wang Bjornsen, an analyst at DNB Carnegie, wrote in a note to clients Friday.
