Reading Time: 3 minutes
Following the 8 April 2021 announcement that Axiata and Telenor were in advanced discussions on the proposed merger, the signing today signifies a confirmation of the intent to establish a commercially stronger and more resilient digital converged service provider, and leading Malaysian telecom operator positioned to drive Malaysia's digital ambitions.
On a pro forma basis[1], MergeCo will serve an estimated 19 million customers with revenue of RM12.4 billion, EBITDA of RM5.7 billion, Profit After Taxation of RM1.9 billion and Free Cash Flow[2] of RM4.0 billion.
Axiata and Telenor will be equal partners with 33.1 percent ownership stake each in MergeCo, and MergeCo will continue to be listed on Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad ( Bursa ). Targeted to be among the five largest companies listed on Bursa in terms of market capitalisation, MergeCo is valued at a combined pre-synergy equity value of close to RM50 billion[3].
The integration planning phase will include further detailed work on synergies and business plan of MergeCo, and initial estimates indicate potential value accretion through cost and capex synergies of around RM8 billion on a net present value basis.
MergeCo will see the combination of the scale, experience, competencies and financial strength of both global telecom groups with the market knowledge of two well-established local companies. Uniquely positioned to address Malaysia's increasing digital service adoption and expectations of better connectivity, MergeCo will have the capabilities to leverage on technology advancements and attract global internet-based partnerships to deliver a wider range of innovative solutions to its customers. It will be well-placed to fuel the implementation of digital technologies at a time when 5G, IoT, AI and cloud computing are coming together to accelerate digitalisation across all reaches of society.
MergeCo will also aim to make an investment of up to RM250 million over five years in building a world-class Innovation Center to be established in Kuala Lumpur with the aim to catalyse the 4IR digital transformation, strengthen the local ecosystem and keep Malaysia at the forefront of the global digital evolution. In taking advantage of new opportunities in the digital economy, the Innovation Center will conduct extensive research and development, develop 5G use cases, support local digital startups, and provide a platform to nurture the creation of a knowledge-based workforce in line with the MyDIGITAL aspirations.
Dato' Izzaddin Idris, President & Group Chief Executive Officer of Axiata said, We are charting good progress in the ongoing merger exercise with Telenor and Digi and remain aligned in our intentions to deliver a strong value proposition that will enable our customers to participate more confidently as the nation transitions towards a digital economy. We look forward to delivering better value and choices to benefit society, especially in bridging the divide in rural areas and assisting the Home and Enterprise businesses take advantage of new opportunities in this digitally accelerated environment.
Assuming a smooth transition, post integration period, we are expecting to see improvement in EBITDA and cashflow margins in the combined entity in step with our ongoing commitment to maximise dividend payout for our shareholders, he added.
We look forward to partner with Axiata to realize the potential of the proposed merged company. The telecom industry is at the beginning of an exciting digital shift, and new technologies are going to change how we develop and deliver services for both the private and public sector. With this merger we bring together competencies, financial strength and scale to go beyond connectivity and implement technology that further advances our customers digital experience, says J rgen A. Rostrup, Executive Vice President and Head of Asia in Telenor Group.
As stated in the initial announcement, Axiata and Telenor have agreed to nominate Dato' Izzaddin Idris as Chair, J rgen C. Arentz Rostrup as Deputy Chair, Idham Nawawi as CEO and Albern Murty as deputy CEO of MergeCo, which will be renamed to Celcom Digi Berhad subject to MergeCo's shareholders' approval.
From the aspect of Malaysia's national interests, Axiata and key Malaysian institutional shareholders are expected to own more than 51 percent of MergeCo at completion. Axiata and Telenor also reiterated their commitment to protect employee welfare with no forced retrenchments. MergeCo is slated to create opportunities for staff to continue to develop across functions, build new competence and be part of future growth of the merged company.
At completion, the merger of Celcom and Digi will result in Axiata receiving newly issued ordinary shares in Digi, representing 33.1 percent of the enlarged issued share capital of Digi, cash consideration of RM2.0 billion of which approximately RM1.7 billion will come from Digi as debt in MergeCo and approximately RM300 million from Telenor as part of an ownership equalisation under the terms of the proposed merger.
Completion of the transaction will be subject to the approval of both Axiata and Digi shareholders, regulatory approvals and other customary terms and conditions. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the Proposed Merger is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2022.
[1] Based on the financial year ended 31 December 2020.
[2] FCF is defined as EBITDA less Capex paid.
[3] After taking into account the issuance of new ordinary shares in Digi.
Press contact: Tormod Sandst , Director Media Relations, Telenor Group
+47 90 94 32 15 | Tormod.Sandsto@telenor.com
Anuja Ravendran, Corporate Communications, Axiata Group Berhad | +6012-2380581 | anuja@axiata.com
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Reading Time: 3 minutes
