Malaysia’s biggest mobile-phone operator Axiata interested in raising its stake in Singapore’s M1 Ltd from its current 28.5% percent stake

Axiata signals interest in raising stake in Singapore’s M1



Axiata Group chief executive officer Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim.


KUALA LUMPUR: Axiata Group Bhd chief executive officer Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim signaled Malaysia’s biggest mobile-phone operator would be interested in raising its stake in Singapore’s M1 Ltd. as part of plans to turn the company into a bigger regional carrier.

“Strategically, it will be good for us to increase the stake,” Jamaludin, 57, said in an interview in his office in Kuala Lumpur last week, though he added that no negotiations were under way. “If the price is right, we will seriously consider it.”

Increasing its stake in M1 would build on Axiata’s presence in South and Southeast Asia, where it already controls operators in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Cambodia. Still, Singapore is facing the prospects of mounting competition as the government is seeking to award the city-state’s fourth license to run a mobile-phone carrier.

M1 shares rose as much as 1.2 percent to S$2.54 in Singapore trading on Monday, while Axiata climbed as much as 0.7 percent in Kuala Lumpur.

Axiata is M1’s biggest shareholder with a 28.5 percent stake, followed by the 19.2 percent held by Temasek Holdings Pte’s Keppel Corp., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. People familiar with the matter said earlier this year that Temasek was weighing the possibility of Keppel selling its stake in M1.

For now, Jamaludin said he’s satisfied with Axiata’s current holdings and isn’t planning any major mergers and acquisitions.

“We are generally happy with what we have” he said. “Realistically, even if I want to go into another country, the opportunity is not there or it doesn’t make sense.”

He singled out India as an example. Axiata has no plan to raise or cut the company’s 20 percent stake in Idea Cellular Ltd., the nation’s third largest wireless carrier, as expansion in the country would require “huge” investments, Jamaludin said. That’s why they need partners like the Birla family, which controls Idea, he said. - Bloomberg