KUALA LUMPUR – U Mobile’s Singapore shareholder suggests that the decision to pare down its stake in the company to about 20% will include convertible financial instruments that it issued for loans to the telco.
ST Telemedia in a statement today said the financial instruments, which could be converted to shares in U Mobile, will form part of the sale – along with close to 29% in ordinary shares in U Mobile – to Mawar Setia Sdn Bhd.
There have been speculations that ST Telemedia could have owned as much as 70% of U Mobile, which will operate the nation’s second 5G network, after taking into consideration the convertible instruments that it has issued to the telco.
U Mobile last month was given approval to develop the nation’s second 5G mobile telecommunications network as part of Putrajaya’s strategy to provide competition to the government-owned current infrastructure provider Digital Nasional Bhd.
Last week ST Telemedia’s subsidiary Straits Mobile Investments Pte Ltd, which held the stake in U Mobile, entered into a conditional sale agreement to sell a portion of its 49% stake to Mawar Setia. After the sale, it would hold about 20% in U Mobile.
Mawar Setia Sdn Bhd is 70%-owned by U Mobile chairman Vincent Tan and 30% by Tunku Tun Aminah Sultan Ibrahim. Tunku Tun Aminah’s father, who is the King, has held 22.3% stake in the telco since 2015.
St Telemedia, which is owned by Temasek Holdings, said since becoming a strategic shareholder in U Mobile in 2010, it had “from time to time, provided funding to the company in the form of certain financial instruments.
“These financial instruments will also form part of the sale to the purchaser once certain conditions precedent to the completion of the sale are satisfied, including the receipt of relevant regulatory approvals.” – December 11, 2024