SINGAPORE, Oct 31: Singapore Telecommunication Company, Southeast Asia’s biggest telecom provider by market capitalization, said on Monday it remained interested in investing in Pakistan, two days after the country’s biggest telecommunication privatization failed.
“We remain interested in Pakistan. We take a disciplined approach with our investments,” Peter Heng, director, corporate communications at the company, told Dow Jones Newswires.
The Pakistani government said on Saturday the United Arab Emirates-based Emirates Telecommunication Corp (Etisalat), which offered the highest bid to buy a 26 per cent stake in Pakistan Telecommunications Company Ltd (PTCL), had failed to make the final payment of the bid amount within the stipulated time.
SingTel was the third highest bidder in the bidding process.
On June 18, Etisalat bid $1.96 per share for the 26 per cent stake, or 1.326 billion shares, along with management control of PTCL. The bid totalled $2.598 billion.
Later, the Pakistani government approved Etisalat’s bid and under the arrangement the firm deposited $260 million, or 10 per cent, as a first instalment within 10 days of the formal approval. The rest of the bid amount was required to be deposited within 60 days, but despite an extension of the time period Etisalat failed to pay by the deadline.
Heng said the company would like to invest in Pakistan if there was a “strategic fit and the price must be right.” —Dow Jones Newswires
