Exclusive-Myanmar junta backs Telenor unit sale after buyer M1 pairs with local firm - sources

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BANGKOK (Reuters) -Lebanon's M1 Group will partner with a Myanmar firm to take over Norwegian telco Telenor's business in the Southeast Asian country after its military junta sought a local buyer, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Telenor https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/telenor-sells-myanmar-operations-m1-group-105-mln-2021-07-08, one of the biggest foreign investors in Myanmar, said in July it was selling its operations there to M1 Group for $105 million, retreating from a country that has slid into chaos after a military coup in February last year.

An October order from the office of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing seen by Reuters instructed officials at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the regulatory body, to reject the sale to M1 Group, which is owned by the family of Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati. The decision was not made public and one person briefed on the matter said it was not conveyed to Telenor.

The two firms made a joint proposal to take over the Telenor unit that was accepted by the junta leadership a month later, the industry sources said.Activists have expressed concerns that Telenor's exit could deepen the junta's surveillance of the population. It is one of four telecom operators in Myanmar, alongside Qatar's Ooredoo, state-backed MPT and Mytel, which is part-owned by a military-linked company.

 

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