SINGTEL : Z74 0% requested a trading halt on Wednesday (Apr 3) morning after falling as much as 4.3 per cent in early trading.
This came after Australian media reported its talks with Canadian private equity firm Brookfield to sell its 20 per cent stake in Optus failed to result in a deal.
As at 9.17 am, the counter was down S$0.11 to S$2.43 with 18.4 million shares changing hands.
It recovered slightly, falling 3.5 per cent, or S$0.09, to S$2.45 with 22.7 million shares transacted. It was the top traded counter as at 9.31 am, before the trading halt.
The Australian broke the news earlier in the day that the negotiations to sell a 20 per cent stake in Optus – Australia’s second-largest mobile phone service provider – have fallen through, without saying where it got the information.
It reported that the parties were unable to agree on terms, including the price, and Brookfield has walked away from the potential deal. The private equity firm declined comment.
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Singtel on Mar 13 denied the deal discussion, after the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported that the telecommunications giant was in advanced discussions to sell its Australian unit to Brookfield. The Australian daily claimed that the deal was estimated to be worth some A$16 billion (S$14.1 billion), and the discussions were “well advanced”.
“Optus remains an integral and strategic part of the Singtel group and we are committed to Australia for the long term,” said Singtel at the time.
“Our current focus has been on improving network resilience and conducting a CEO search (for Optus).”
Earlier this year on Jan 30, Singtel also denied exploring transactions involving the enterprise business of Optus, in response to a report by AFR.
